A tourist who was declared missing and the subject of an intense police search had no idea she was missing, and in fact took part in the search itself.

The story began on Saturday, Morgunblaðið reports, when a woman who was described as “Asian, about 160cm, in dark clothing and speaks English well” was declared missing somewhere in the vicinity of Eldgjá, in south Iceland.

The search went on throughout the weekend, with no sign of the woman found. However, yesterday morning, she was reported found – and had no idea she was missing in the first place.

This was apparently the result of a misunderstanding regarding her appearance. While it was initially reported that she had stepped off the bus at Eldgjá and never returned, in fact she changed clothing before getting back on the bus.

To make matters more surreal, she had even taken part in the search, without realising at first that she was the one people were looking for. Eventually, it occurred to her that she could very well be the “missing person” being described, and reported the matter to the police. The search was called off shortly thereafter.