A volcano erupted in southwestern Iceland on Sunday, posing a threat to a small nearby fishing town that had already been evacuated due to previous seismic activity, authorities said.
Footage from the site showed fountains of molten rock shooting from cracks in the ground, and bright orange lava flows glowing in the dark sky.
Lava spills from a volcano near Grindavík on Sunday. credit: Icelandic Civil Protection via AP
“No lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be threatened,” Icelandic President Gudni Johansson said on the social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that there had been no flight disruptions.
Authorities said the eruption began early Sunday north of the town of Grindavik, which had been evacuated the day before for the second time in a month due to fears of an outbreak amid a cluster of seismic activity.
Authorities have built barriers of dirt and rocks in recent weeks to try to prevent lava from reaching Grindavik, about 40 kilometers southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, but the latest eruption appears to have penetrated the city's defenses.
View of the volcano from Suðurstrandavegur, the road to Grindavík in Iceland.credit: AP
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said: “According to the first images from the Coast Guard surveillance flight, a crack has opened on both sides of the defenses whose construction has begun north of Grindavik.”
The International Maritime Organization said that lava was flowing towards the town and reached an estimated distance of 450 metres.
Based on flow models, it could take a few hours to reach Grindavik if lava continues to flow toward the city, an IMO spokesperson told public radio RUV.
