Keystone-SDA
A volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula, in southwest Iceland, has erupted on Wednesday for the ninth since the end of 2023, the authorities announced.
(Keystone-ATS) Video images shot live show lava escaping from a crack in the ground. The eruption started shortly before 6:00 am (in Switzerland), according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
The RUV television channel said that the neighboring fishing village, Grindavik, was evacuated. Most of the 4,000 inhabitants of Grindavik were evacuated at the end of 2023, shortly before the first volcanic eruption in the region. Since then, almost all the houses have been sold to the State and the majority of the inhabitants have left.
The peninsula volcanoes had not erupted for eight centuries until March 2021, when an increased seismic activity period began.
International flights not affected
Volcanologists estimated that volcanic activity in the region had entered a new era.
According to the RUV channel, the latter eruption has no impact on international flights.
In 2010, a volcanic eruption in another part of Iceland caused chaos in transport around the world, the ashes projected in the atmosphere that led to aerial space closings in Europe.
Iceland is home to 33 active volcanic systems, more than any other European country.
It is located on the medio-Atlantic dorsal, a fault in the ocean floor which separates the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates and causes earthquakes and eruptions.
