A volcano in Iceland exploded Sunday after hundreds of earthquakes shook the Reykjanes Peninsula, prompting evacuations in a town near a fissure that opened and spewed lava last month.
The eruption occurred around 8 a.m. local time near Sundhnjúkar, north of the town of Grindavik, according to local media and the national civil protection agency. Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a volcanologist who advises the civil protection agency, said he was boarding a coast guard helicopter to fly over the eruption, about 10 minutes after it started.
At least 200 earthquake hit the area near Grindavik, 52 km southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, on Sunday from 3 a.m. local time, according to the Icelandic Weather Bureau. Before the eruption, civil protection had ordered the evacuation of Grindavik and declared that an eruption was imminent.
The latest eruption occurred along a row of volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula, where a fissure opened in December and erupted, creating a glowing, winding river of lava.
Although volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland, the volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula were dormant for about 800 years, until 2021. Since then, there have been four eruptions on the peninsula, home to about two third of the Icelandic population.
This is a developing story.
