(UTV | ICELAND) – A volcano has erupted on a mountain near Iceland`s capital Reykjavik after days of rising earthquake activity in the area, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Wednesday .
Emergency plans were activated after the volcano erupted, with glowing lava flows bubbling up in an event that was widely expected after a flurry of seismic activity.
Images and livestreams by local news outlets showed lava and smoke spewing from a fissure in the ground on the side of the Fagradalsfjall mountain, which last year saw an eruption that lasted six months.
The eruption started near the mountain Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula south-west of Reykjavik. White smoke initially rose from the earth before glowing magma emerged with lava spraying out of an extended crack in the Geldingadalur valley.
VIDEO: People watch as lava spews out of a volcanic fissure in the Geldingadalir volcano in Iceland.
The volcano erupted near the capital Reykjavik, spewing red hot lava and plumes of smoke out of a fissure in an uninhabited valley after several days of intense seismic activity pic.twitter.com/KFKqZXdoo7
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The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management in a statement said that tourists and residents should avoid the area due to poisonous gases, although there was no immediate risk of damage to critical infrastructure.
IMO also informed that a “code red” was declared to prohibit airplanes from flying over the site although helicopters were sent in to survey the situation.
According to the officials, unlike the eruption in 2010 of the ice-covered Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which halted some 100,000 flights and forced hundreds of Icelanders from their homes, this eruption is not expected to spew much ash or smoke into the atmosphere.