WATCH: Volcano erupts in Iceland weeks after thousands evacuated from town
A volcano erupted late on Monday in southwest Iceland, spewing lava and smoke across a wide area after weeks of intense earthquakes.
Images and livestreams of the eruption showed molten rock spewing spectacularly from fissures in the ground, their bright-yellow and orange colours set in sharp contrast against the dark night sky. Fearing a significant eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, authorities last month evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik and closed the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
In 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted, causing an ash cloud which grounded European air traffic but the latest activity is not expected to cause the same disruption. Scientists have said a new eruption would likely produce lava but not an ash cloud.
“Warning: Eruption has started north of Grindavik by Hagafell,” the country’s Meteorological Office said on its website, noting that the eruption began only a few kilometres from Grindavik and cracks in the ground stretched toward…
