A VOLCANO near Iceland’s capital has erupted for the seventh time in just a year.
The eruption started with little warning shortly after 11pm last night – with dramatic footage showing a wall of magma lighting up the night sky.
The volcano sits 20 miles south-west of Reykjavik and Wednesday’s eruption is the tenth in just three years.
Spewing fountains of lava and smoke, the eruption created a fissure around 1.8 miles long.
Around 50 houses were evacuated after the Civil Protection agency issued an alert – and guests at the famous Blue Lagoon resort were also evacuated.
The repeated volcanic eruptions close to Grindavk – a town of 3,800 people – have damaged infrastructure and buildings and forced many residents to relocate.
The last eruption only ended on September 6.
Magns Tumi Gumundsson, a professor of geophysics who flew over the eruption with the Civil Protection agency, said: “In the big picture, this is a bit smaller than the last eruption and the eruption that occurred in May.
“Grindavk is not in danger as it looks and it is unlikely that this crack will get any longer, although nothing can be ruled out.”
Iceland, with nearly 400,000 citizens, is located on the fault line between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
It makes it a seismic hotspot with hot and warm-water springs and dozens of volcanoes.
The biggest eruption in recent years was the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 – which spewed huge clouds of ash into the sky and disrupted air travel for months.
Grindavik Mayor Fannar Jónasson said the eruption came as a shock, with the next one not expected until the end of the month.
He said: “But that is how unpredictable nature is.”
The volcano lava flow is heading to the west – but its speed is currently unknown.
Benedikt Ófeigsson from the Norwegian Meteorological Agency told local media Channel 2: “There is currently nothing in danger, and if this does not develop much differently than it has been doing, the infrastructure should escape this quite well.”
