Tourists visit Iceland volcano 'about to erupt'

Updated



Tourists queueing up to see Iceland volcano 'about to erupt'
Tourists queueing up to see Iceland volcano 'about to erupt'




Daredevil tourists are reportedly queuing up to see Iceland's largest volcano - just as it has started to erupt.

The Icelandic Met Office raised its aviation warning level near the Bardarbunga volcano to red after an eruption began on Thursday night, although today (Friday) this warning was reduced to amber.

Scientists said a fissure eruption 1km (0.6 miles) long started in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier.

Iceland's met office says there has been "ongoing magma movement" and on its website it states that "intense earthquake swarm continues at Bardarbunga".

Colour code red is the highest level and indicates "eruption is imminent or in progress - significant emission of ash into atmosphere likely".

According to the BBC, civil protection officials said Icelandic Air Traffic Control had closed the airspace above the eruption up to a height of 5,000ft.

The volcano has been hit by several recent tremors, and the latest fissure eruption took place between Dyngjujokull Glacier and the Askja caldera, a statement from the Department of Civil Protection said.

There has so far been no volcanic ash detected.

Bardarbunga is located under Iceland's largest glacier. UK-based travel company Discover the World has reportedly received a lot of interest in its "volcano hotline" and is planning on flying hundreds of tourists to the site, reports the Daily Mail.

Back in 2010, the company took tourists to the Fimmvorduhals eruption in south-western Iceland, which occurred about a month before Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted spewing a massive cloud of ash that shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days causing travel chaos.


Icelandic Volcano Alert Level Raised, Starts Erupting
Icelandic Volcano Alert Level Raised, Starts Erupting






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