Iceland volcano spews lava again
STORY: Livestreams from the area showed fountains of molten rock soaring from fissures in the ground after authorities had warned for weeks that an eruption was imminent on the Reykjanes peninsula just south of Iceland's capital Reykjavik.
"Warning: An eruption began in Reykjanes," the Icelandic Meteorological Office said on its website. It estimated the fissure to be about 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) long, roughly the same size as the last eruption in February.
An aerial video shot by Iceland's Department of Civil Protection showed a long, glowing fissure streaking across the ground.
Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport's website showed it remained open both for departures and arrivals.
But the nearby Grindavik fishing town, where a few of the nearly 4,000 residents had returned following earlier outbreaks, was again being evacuated, public broadcaster RUV reported. A fissure eruption in January burned to the ground several of its homes.
Icelandic police said they had declared a state of emergency for the area and the Civil Defence authority dispatched a helicopter to survey the extent of the eruption.
