REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) – A long dormant volcano on Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland came to life Friday night, spilling lava from two sides during the first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.
First aerial images, posted on the Icelandic Meteorological Bureau’s Facebook page, showed a relatively small eruption so far, with two lava flows in opposite directions. The glow of the lava could be seen from the outskirts of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, which is about 32 kilometers (20 miles) away.
The Department of Emergency Management said it was not expecting evacuations because the volcano is located in a remote valley about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the nearest road.
The Fagradals Mountain volcano had been inactive for 6,000 years, and there had been no volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in 781 years.
Recently, there were signs of a possible eruption, with earthquakes occurring daily for the past three weeks. But volcanologists were still surprised because the seismic activity had calmed down before the eruption.