Hundreds evacuated in Iceland as volcano erupts

April 14, 2010

1 hour, 43 minutes ago

REYKJAVIK (AFP) - Up to 800 people were evacuated in Iceland early Wednesday due

to a volcano eruption under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in the south of the

island, police and geophysicists said.

" Between 700 and 800 people were evacuated from their homes, " police spokesman

Baldur Sigurdsson told AFP, pointing out that " there were a lot of earthquakes

in the area. "

" There is an eruption going on in the southwestern part of Eyjafjallajokull's

top crater. Smoke coming out of the top crater is towering more than 20,000 feet

(6,000 metres) in the air, " said geophysicist Gunnar Gunnarsson of Iceland's

Meteo Institute.

" The water flow in the Gigjokull glacier tongue in the northern part of

Eyjafjallajokull has risen by 2.5 metres and is still rising, " he told AFP.

According to Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a geophysics professor and civil

protection advisor, the eruption appeared to have started around 1:00 am (GMT)

Wednesday.

" Officials in two aeroplanes have seen smoke. The eruption is rather small at

the moment, " he told AFP.

Icelandic public broadcaster RUV said on its website the evacuees were being

directed to Red Cross mass care centres.

Last month, the first volcano eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier since

1823 -- and Iceland's first since 2004 -- briefly forced 600 people from their

homes in the remote, lightly populated area 125 kilometres (75 miles) east of

Reykjavik.

That eruption at the Fimmvorduhals volcano, which gushed lava for weeks, ended

Tuesday, Gudmonsson said.

The new eruption appeared to be further to the west, and " there is nothing that

indicates at the moment that this eruption will be big, " he added.

As Fimmvorduhals erupted on March 21, all Iceland flights were briefly

cancelled, but no flights had so far been cancelled due to Wednesday's eruption.

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