Brits have been warned travel to Iceland cannot be guaranteed safe as a volcano erupts on the island. A volcanic eruption overnight on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula turned the sky orange and put the country’s civil defences on high alert.
The eruption appears to have happened about 2.4 miles (4km) from the town of Grindavik, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
Grainy webcam video showed the moment of the eruption, with a flash of light illuminating the night sky at 10.17pm on Monday (December 18). As the eruption spread, magma, or semi-molten rock, could be seen spewing along the ridge of a hill.
Iceland’s Foreign Minister, Bjarne Benediktsson, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that there are “no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland and international flight corridors remain open”.
Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said volcanic eruptions are common in Iceland and, in general, no travel “can be guaranteed safe”, but it is not advising against travel to the country.
In travel advice current at the time of writing, the FCDO states: “Earthquakes and indications of volcanic activity have increased above normal levels on the Reykjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik. The Icelandic authorities continue to monitor the area closely, particularly the area northwest of Mt Thorbjörn near the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon.”
It adds that a civil protection alert was declared on November 10 after a spate of earthquakes rocked parts of the island, with the town of Grindavík evacuated as a precaution.
Keflavik International Airport has been operating as normal, according to the FCDO. Travellers have been urged to monitor local media for updates and to follow the authorities’ advice on travel to the area.
Safe Travel Iceland said the eruption site and roads in the vicinity have been closed while authorities assess the dangers. It urged people to stay away from the area, warning of a danger of poisoned gasses around the eruption.
Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management, told the Icelandic public broadcaster, RUV: “The magma flow seems to be at least a hundred cubic meters per second, maybe more. So this would be considered a big eruption in this area at least.”
Iceland lies on a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic and averages an eruption every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
That eruption spewed enormous clouds of ash into the atmosphere and grounded flights across Europe for days because of fears ash could damage airplane engines.
Icelandic Met Office said on Tuesday (December 19) the northern end of the latest fissure is just east of Stóra-Skógfell and the southern end just east of Sundhnúk. The distance from the southern end to the edge of Grindavík is almost 1.8 miles (3km).
The forecaster added the intensity of the volcanic eruption is decreasing, but this is not an indication as to how long the eruption will last, but that it is reaching “a state of equilibrium”.
