Volcano erupts in Iceland, molten lava reaches town

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A volcano erupted in southwestern Iceland on Sunday, with molten lava flows reaching the outskirts of a small fishing town by midafternoon, setting some houses alight, authorities said.

The town had been evacuated earlier and no lives were in danger, they said.

Fountains of molten rock and smoke spewed from fissures in the ground across a wide area stretching to the town of Grindavik, where at least one house had caught fire, said daily Morgunbladid.

"No lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat," Iceland's President Gudni Johannesson said on social media site X, adding there had been no interruptions to flights.

The eruption began early on Sunday north of the town, which just hours before had been evacuated for the second time since November over fears that an outbreak was imminent amid a swarm of seismic activity, authorities said.

"It's tragic seeing this," local resident Sveinn Ari Gudjonsson said.

"It's unreal, it's like watching a film," added the 55-year-old.

Authorities built barriers of earth and rock in recent weeks to try to prevent lava from reaching Grindavik, some 40 kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavik, but the latest eruption has penetrated the town's defenses.

The nearby geothermal spa Blue Lagoon had closed on Sunday, it said on its website.

It was the second eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland in less than one month and the fifth outbreak since 2021.

Last month, an eruption started in the Svartsengi volcanic system on Dec 18 following the complete evacuation a month earlier of Grindavik's 4,000 residents and the closing of the Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist spot.

More than 100 Grindavik residents had returned in recent weeks, before Saturday's renewed evacuation order, according to local authorities.

Iceland, which is roughly the size of the US state of Kentucky, boasts more than 30 active volcanoes, making the north European island a prime destination for volcano tourism, a niche segment that attracts thousands of thrill seekers.

In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in the south of Iceland spread over large parts of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes.

Agencies - Xinhua