Insane photos show another huge Iceland volcano eruption as thousands flee their homes
Helicopters captured footage of the smoke billowing out of the volcano and a thick fissure splitting the landscape in two against the backdrop of a blue sky.
A volcano in Iceland has erupted for the fifth time in as many months, spewing red streams of lava and triggering the evacuation of the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
The eruption began early on Wednesday afternoon in Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 people that was largely evacuated in December when the volcano erupted.
It followed a series of earthquakes to the north of the town and shot lava about 50 meters into the sky from a fissure about 1.5 miles long.
Grindavik is about 30 miles southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, and has been threatened since earthquakes in November forced an evacuation.
This evacuation came before the volcano's initial eruption on December 18, with a subsequent eruption overwhelming some defensive walls and consuming several buildings.
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Guðjón Helgason, a press officer with airport operator ISAVIA, said this latest eruption was unlikely to pose a risk to air travel.
Helicopters captured footage of the smoke billowing out of the volcano and a thick fissure splitting the landscape in two against the backdrop of a blue sky.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) reported "intense earthquake activity" prior to the eruption, with "about 400 earthquakes" in the past seven days near the crater.
The area is part of the Svartsengi volcanic system that was dormant for nearly 800 years before reawakening in December.
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The volcano erupted again in January, February, and March, with the February one engulfing a pipeline and cutting off heat and hot water to thousands of people.
Iceland sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic and so sees regular eruptions, making it experienced at dealing with them.
The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.
