Iceland volcano erupts again, spewing molten lava

A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted for the third time since December on Thursday, sending jets of lava into the sky and triggering the evacuation of the Blue Lagoon spa, one of the island nation’s biggest tourist attractions.

- 

The eruption began at about 0600 GMT (1 am EST) along a three-kilometre (nearly two-mile) fissure northeast of Mount Sundhnukur, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The event is taking place about four kilometers (2 miles) northeast of Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 people that was evacuated before a previous eruption on Dec 18. The Icelandic

Meteorological Office said that lava was flowing to the west and there was no immediate threat to Grindavik or to a major power plant in the area. Civil defence officials said no one was believed to be in the town at the time of the eruption, Icelandic national broadcaster RUV reported.

They weren’t meant to be, and we don’t know about any,” Vir Reynisson, the head of Iceland’s Civil Defence, told Icelandic national broadcaster RUV.