2024-01-14 18:01:58
A volcano erupted near the fishing port of Grindavik in southwest Iceland on Sunday, spewing lava from two fissures in the ground that set empty homes ablaze.
Two cracks then opened, one around 8:00 a.m. some 400 meters from the town and the other at midday on the edge of the first homes, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), spewing large flows of bright orange lava.
In the middle of the followingnoon, the first two houses were hit by the burning lava and immediately caught fire, releasing large plumes of black smoke, according to images from surveillance cameras broadcast by Icelandic public television. The fire then spread to one house following another.
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“It’s like watching a movie.”
“It’s unreal. It’s like watching a film,” adds this man working in the fishing industry.
Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson is due to speak at 8:00 p.m. local time, according to public broadcaster RUV.
Earlier, he assured that “no lives are in danger”, as “the city has already been successfully evacuated overnight”. “But the infrastructure might be threatened,” he said in a message on X.
New volcanic eruption southwest of Reykjavik. [Anton Brink – Keystone]This is the fifth volcanic eruption in Iceland in almost three years, the previous one taking place on the evening of December 18 in the same area.
>> Read also: Volcano erupts in Iceland following weeks of seismic activity
Grindavik, which has 4,000 inhabitants, was evacuated on November 11 as a precaution following hundreds of earthquakes caused by the movement of magma under the earth’s crust – a precursor to a volcanic eruption.
These earthquakes damaged the city, creating large cracks in the roads and in houses and public buildings.
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