Three vacationers had been injured in Iceland Wednesday evening as they trekked throughout tough terrain to a volcanic eruption drawing awe-struck onlookers to its sputtering fountains of red-hot lava, a spokeswoman for Iceland’s civil safety company mentioned.
The accidents, together with a damaged ankle, weren’t severe, however they underscored the dangers that vacationers face making an attempt to hike to the lava flowing from the Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwest Iceland, the spokeswoman, Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, mentioned in an interview on Thursday.
“We inform those who, regardless that we all know it’s spectacular and there’s nothing prefer it, we’ve got to watch out, and we’ve got to be ready earlier than we go,” Ms. Gudmundsdottir mentioned.
The hike to and from the realm, she mentioned, takes about 5 hours and, because the volcano erupted final 12 months, could contain crossing lava that’s nonetheless fragile and scorching beneath the floor. Officers have additionally warned of sudden fuel air pollution close to the eruption web site.
“We are attempting to inform folks it’s not only a stroll within the park,” Ms. Gudmundsdottir mentioned. “Folks should watch out and in good garments and good sneakers. We are attempting to inform that to each Icelanders and our overseas associates.”
The vacationer with a damaged ankle was taken by helicopter to a hospital, Ms. Gudmundsdottir mentioned. The opposite two had been helped off the volcano in automobiles, she mentioned.
Ms. Gudmundsdottir mentioned she anticipated extra vacationers to reach within the coming days, particularly after darkish, when the fiery lava might be seen towards Iceland’s evening sky.
“We don’t understand how many individuals have been there, however we all know it’s many, and we all know the following days, it is going to be extra,” she mentioned. “We all know we will’t say, ‘Keep away.’ We’re not locking the place.”
The lava started flowing on Wednesday from a floor fissure round Fagradalsfjall, close to the city of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula, the Icelandic authorities mentioned in an announcement. The eruption got here after intense seismic exercise over the past a number of days, the assertion mentioned.
The federal government mentioned that the eruption was thought of to be “comparatively small” and that the chance to populated areas and significant infrastructure was low. Fissure eruptions don’t often lead to giant explosions or signficicant columns of ash flying into the stratosphere, the assertion mentioned.
However the authorities mentioned it was nonetheless advising folks to not go to the positioning. The eruption web site “is a harmful space and circumstances can change shortly,” the Division of Civil Safety and Emergency Administration mentioned in an announcement on Thursday.
It warned that poisonous fuel can accumulate when the wind decreases, that new lava fountains can open with little warning and that accumulating lava can movement shortly throughout the bottom.
The fissure is about 9 miles from a significant transportation hub, Keflavik Airport, and about 16 miles from the Reykjavik metropolitan space, the federal government mentioned.
“We’ve been anticipating an eruption someplace on this space because the collection of earthquakes began final weekend,” Katrin Jakobsdottir, Iceland’s prime minister, mentioned in an announcement. “We are going to in fact proceed to observe the scenario carefully and now we additionally profit from the expertise gained from final 12 months’s eruption.”
There’s a lengthy historical past of volcanic exercise in Iceland, which has greater than 30 energetic volcanoes. The nation straddles two tectonic plates, that are divided by an undersea mountain chain that oozes molten scorching rock, or magma. Quakes happen when the magma pushes by way of the plates.
Keflavik Airport mentioned on its web site on Thursday that there have been no disruptions to arriving or departing flights.
Icelandair additionally sought to reassure passengers that its flights had not been disrupted because it promoted the volcanic eruption on Fb, writing on Wednesday that “Iceland’s summer time simply obtained hotter!” It included a hyperlink to a livestream of the eruption web site.