A volcano erupted on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland after several weeks of intense seismic activity, UNN reports citing BBC News.
Details
About 4,000 people were evacuated from the fishing town of Grindavik earlier, and the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal resort was closed.
According to the Icelandic Meteorological Bureau, the eruption began north of the city at 22:17 local time. The length of the crack in the volcano is about 3.5 km, and the lava flow rate is between 100 and 200 cubic meters per second, the weather bureau said. It added that this is much more than during previous eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in recent years.
The region around the capital Reykjavik has seen an increase in seismic activity since the end of October.
The Meteorological Bureau reported that the eruption occurred about 4 km northeast of Grindavik, and seismic activity was spreading toward the city.
Images and videos posted on social media show lava erupting from the volcano only an hour after the earthquake or seismic events were detected.
The eruption can be seen from Reykjavik, which lies about 42 km northeast of Grindavik.
Police warned people to stay away from the area.
As of 07:00 GMT, there were no reports of injuries.
Iceland's Foreign Minister Bjarni Benediktsson said in X that "there are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland, and international flight corridors remain open."
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Iceland has been on high alert for several weeks now due to a possible volcanic eruption, and last month the authorities ordered people to leave Grindavik as a precautionary measure.
In April 2010, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano led to the largest closure of European airspace since World War II due to a large ash cloud.
The losses were estimated at EUR 1.5-2.5 billion.