Despite the police and the emergency response authority issuing a warning to stay off the ice on lakes and canals across the country, many people still took the risk.
The problem was acutely laid bare in Copenhagen over the weekend, where hundreds of people took to the ice on the Lakes.
“Everyone was out there, even families with children,” Michael Andersen, a spokesperson for Copenhagen Police, told TV2 News.
“We’ve been down there to try to talk some sense into them but it’s an impossible task. They don’t think about the dangers and everyone else is doing it so why shouldn’t they? I know what happens when hundreds of people are gathered in one place and the ice cracks. But people don’t think about that.”
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Police: It’s the selfish many
For it to be safe to move about on the ice, it needs to be 16-18 cm think, but over the weekend the ice was just 10 cm thick, according to measurements taken by the Copenhagen Municipality.
The municipality also contended that the Lakes won’t be deemed safe to traverse anytime soon as the weather is slowly becoming warmer.
So far there haven’t been any accidents on the lake, although a man did fall through the ice on the canals in Christianshavn the other day.
”It’s risky and selfish to go out there. It costs the state coffers thousands of kroner when we respond to emergency calls, and when it becomes clear it could have been avoided had they followed the rules, then it’s selfish,” said Andersen.
