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9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 DECEMBER 2023 NEWS A volcano in south-west Iceland has erupt- ed, spewing lava and smoke into the air after weeks of intense earthquake activity. Although an eruption was expected, it is larger than predicted. Fears of a significant eruption prompted authorities to evacuate around 4,000 resi- dents from the fishing town of Grindavík in November. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, one of the country's most popular tourist attractions, was also closed. The eruption began north of the town at 10.17pm local time on Monday, the Ice- landic Met Office said, spewing lava and smoke across a large area. Vidir Reynisson, a senior police officer at Civil Defence, told national broadcaster RUV the eruption had happened quickly and appeared to be "quite a large event", adding that lava appeared to be flowing in all directions from a large crack in the volcano. Where is the Iceland volcano? The eruption, which can be seen from Reykjavik, is located in Grindavík, about 42km south-west of the capital. The region around Reykjavik has been experiencing an increase in earthquake ac- tivity since late October. According to the Icelandic Meteorologi- cal Office, the eruptive fissure is about 4km (2.5 miles) long, with the northern end just east of Stóra-Skógfell and the southern end just east of Sundhnúk. The distance from the southern end to the edge of Grindavík is almost 3km. It added: "The intensity of the volcanic eruption, which started about four hours ago, is decreasing. "This is evident from seismic and GPS measurements. The fact that the activity is decreasing already is not an indication of how long the eruption will last, but rath- er that the eruption is reaching a state of equilibrium. "This development has been observed at the beginning of all eruptions on the Rey- kjanes Peninsula in recent years." It warned that Iceland's south-western peninsula could face decades of volcanic instability. Has travel been affected? In 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull eruption caused a huge ash cloud that disrupted global aviation, with 50,000 flights can- celled worldwide. However, this time, Iceland's foreign min- ister Bjarni Benediktsson said on X, former- ly Twitter, that "there are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland, and interna- tional flight corridors remain open". While some scheduled flights set to de- part early on Tuesday are delayed, flights are largely departing as usual from Ice- land's largest airport, Keflavík Internation- al. The country's Department of Civil Pro- tection and Emergency Management not- ed that Iceland is "highly prepared for vol- canic events". It added: "It is important to note that there are currently 46 volcanoes actively erupting around the world without any significant disruption to international air traffic." Iceland volcano erupts