Iceland volcano erupts, forcing evacuation of nearby Grindavik and Blue Lagoon tourist destination
A volcano began erupting in southwest Iceland on Tuesday, just hours after authorities evacuated a nearby community and the Blue Lagoon spa, one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions.
Flames and smoke shot through the air as the volcanic fissure opened near the town of Grindavik, where some 40 homes were evacuated, national broadcaster RUV reported. The community, located on the Reykjanes Peninsula, was largely evacuated a year ago when the volcano came to life after lying dormant for 800 years.
Webcams showed molten rock spewing out toward the community. Sirens sounded in Grindavik while the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa was also evacuated. The lagoon draws hundreds of thousands of tourists annually, including large school groups from across the world who come to study Iceland's dynamic geology.
"The fissure is now about 500 meters (yards) long and has reached through the protective barrier north of Grindavík,'' Iceland's Met Office said in a statement. "The fissure continues to grow, and it cannot be ruled out that it may continue to open further south.''
The magma flow began at about 6:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. eastern) accompanied by an intense earthquake swarm similar to previous eruptions, the Icelandic Met Office said.
Iceland sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic. The most disruptive incident in recent times was the 2010
eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano
, which spewed clouds of ash into the atmosphere and disrupted transatlantic air travel for months.
Iceland saw at least
seven volcanic eruptions
during 2024 near Grindavik, leading to the evacuation of the town. After the seventh eruption, people were evacuated from about 50 homes in the fishing village, according to the country's
Civil Protection Agency
.
Iceland is home to 33 active volcanic systems, more than any other European country. It is situated on top of a rift between two tectonic plates, which makes the island nation vulnerable to
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
.
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