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A tourist hotspot in Iceland has been evacuated after a volcano erupted this morning.
The North Atlantic country is on high alert after lava spewed out of the Sundhnúkur volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
This is the ninth time the volcano has erupted since December 2023 and the country’s 12th seismic incident since 2021.
People have been evacuated in and around the town of Grindavik, including at the famous Blue Lagoon resort.
Footage shows thick smoke rising from the smoldering crater.
But despite the dramatic scenes, meteorologists said today’s eruption is a small one and buildings are safe.
Visitors from the Blue Lagoon resort – which welcomes around 3,500 people daily – and a nearby campsite, were told to move to safety.
Residents in the northwestern direction towards Vogar and Reykjanesbrautwere told to keep windows shut due to a moving gas pollution cloud from the volcano.
The magma opened up a large fissure measuring between 0.4 and 0.6 miles.
The Icelandic Met Office said: ‘The eruptive fissure is approximately 700 to 1000 m long. The fissure has been propagating to the north since the eruption started.
‘Lava is mostly flowing to the SE and is not approaching any infrastructure.’
Seismic activity was first spotted deep in the Earth at about 1.20am, when an ‘intense seismic swarm’ was detected.
Flights at the Keflavik airport have not been disrupted by the eruption – unlike in 2010 when the Eyjafjallajökull eruption grounded thousands of flights across Europe.
While Iceland is well prepared for seismic activity, it can take visitors by surprise.
Last year, Metro’s visit to the Blue Lagoon came to a sudden halt because of an eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula.
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