Ellie Goulding: 'Lake plunge was terrifying'

Ellie Goulding has opened up about the terrifying accident that left her fighting for her life in Norway last month (Jan16), revealing she was told it was safe to drive over an icy lake before the vehicle plunged into the water.

The Burn star cheated death during a vacation in January (15) when an all-terrain vehicle she was travelling in with a group of friends was cast into freezing waters.

The incident was made public by her photographer friend Conor McDonnell, who shared a snap of the semi-submerged van, and Ellie has now recounted the experience during a UK radio interview, calling the accident "scary".

"The thing (vehicle) that we were in collapsed over a lake. We were told it was safe but it clearly wasn't. We were in safe hands but it was pretty scary," she told Britain's Radio 1 Breakfast Show. "I was rescued within five minutes. But when the person went back to get everyone else, it'd nearly entirely sunk. It was five metres down. But I'm fine... We decided we wanted to go out exploring. It was like -30C and I'd never been out in anything like it. We were out on a mountain."

After Conor initially published the image of the group's sunken van, Ellie shared it on her social media pages, writing, "Throwback to a few weeks ago when myself and @conormcdphoto nearly ended up in a lake in -30... Note to self don't drive a BV206 over a frozen lake".

The last few weeks have been hectic for the blonde beauty and she recently admitted that being so busy has left her on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She's currently in the midst of her Delirium World Tour, which kicked off in Hamburg, Germany, on 21 January (16).

"The last month has been really testing, on everything, on my sanity," she told Britain's Red Magazine in the publication's March (16) issue. "The music industry isn't like other industries – there are no rules about working hours, or taking breaks."