Erica Mengouchian was visiting a black-sand beach one summer when she coincidentally captured a scary moment. A wave came up forcefully and nearly swept away a group of tourists enjoying the famous Iceland beach. Mengouchian was standing farther back from the ocean than many others, but she still had to turn and run as the water rushed up the beach. Her partner asked, “Did you get that on video?!” To which she replied, “Yeah, but we have to get out of here.”
Though the incident occurred in summer 2018, Mengouchian recently posted her video again on Instagram with a reminder to people visiting Iceland beaches this summer.
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“READ the warning signs and follow the rules when visiting Reynisfjara black sand beach in Iceland!” she wrote in her August post sharing the video. “Waves that seem far away sneak up on shore faster than you think. Don’t get too close and never turn your back to the water.”
Thankfully, Mengouchian says everyone on the beach was OK, but it could have gone very differently. In her original YouTube video caption, Mengouchian says the tourists who were standing up close to the water were blatantly ignoring signs saying not to do so.
Watch the wave that nearly took out a bunch of tourists in Iceland:
Here’s the original YouTube video that racked up 3 million views:
Header stock image of Reynisfjara black sand beach by Nukorn Plainpan/Getty Images