Three Tourists Are Injured Near Volcanic Eruption in Iceland

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 stated.

The accidents, together with a damaged ankle, weren’t critical, however they underscored the dangers that vacationers face attempting to hike to the lava flowing from the Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwest Iceland, the spokeswoman, Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, stated in an interview on Thursday.

“We inform folks that, despite the fact that we all know it’s spectacular and there’s nothing prefer it, now we have to watch out, and now we have to be ready earlier than we go,” Ms. Gudmundsdottir stated.

The hike to and from the realm, she stated, takes about 5 hours and, because the volcano erupted final 12 months, might contain crossing lava that’s nonetheless fragile and sizzling beneath the floor. Officers have additionally warned of sudden fuel air pollution close to the eruption web site.

“We try to inform individuals it’s not only a stroll within the park,” Ms. Gudmundsdottir stated. “Individuals need to watch out and in good garments and good footwear. We try 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 stated. The opposite two had been helped off the volcano in automobiles, she stated.

Ms. Gudmundsdottir stated she anticipated extra vacationers to reach within the coming days, particularly after darkish, when the fiery lava may be seen in opposition to Iceland’s evening sky.

“We don’t know the way many individuals have been there, however we all know it’s many, and we all know the subsequent days, it is going to be extra,” she stated. “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 stated in a press release. The eruption got here after intense seismic exercise during the last a number of days, the assertion stated.

The federal government stated that the eruption was thought of to be “comparatively small” and that the danger to populated areas and significant infrastructure was low. Fissure eruptions don’t normally end in giant explosions or important columns of ash flying into the stratosphere, the assertion stated.

However the authorities stated it was nonetheless advising individuals to not go to the positioning. The eruption web site “is a harmful space and situations can change shortly,” the Division of Civil Safety and Emergency Administration stated in a press release 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 circulation 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 stated.

“We’ve been anticipating an eruption someplace on this space because the collection of earthquakes began final weekend,” Katrin Jakobsdottir, Iceland’s prime minister, stated in a press release. “We’ll after all 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 lively volcanoes. The nation straddles two tectonic plates, that are divided by an undersea mountain chain that oozes molten sizzling rock, or magma. Quakes happen when the magma pushes by the plates.

Keflavik Airport stated 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 acquired hotter!” It included a hyperlink to a livestream of the eruption web site.