The authorities in Iceland on Thursday reiterated calls to vacationers to keep away from the location of a volcanic eruption, a spectacular present of spewing lava, after a hiker needed to be rescued by helicopter earlier within the week.
The eruption occurred Monday night time in Iceland’s most populated space, sending fountains of lava into the sky. The world, the Reykjanes Peninsula, had been experiencing robust seismic exercise since October, resulting in the evacuation final month of Grindavik, a fishing city of three,600 individuals.
As quickly as preliminary studies of the eruption emerged, vacationers and locals alike began to flock to websites the place they might see the glowing river of lava for themselves, even because the authorities known as for individuals to avoid the realm. The amount of lava has diminished for the reason that eruption, as craters type alongside the two.5-mile-long fissure.
“We suggest no one ought to go,” mentioned Jona Jonasdottir, a police officer in Keflavik. Ms. Jonasdottir mentioned that individuals have been attempting to get near the volcano however have been turning round both due to the tough terrain or as a result of they have been stopped by the police.
Patrollers have been discovering individuals in “the strangest of locations,” Eyjolfur Jonsson, a firefighter on obligation on the search and rescue headquarters in Grindavik, mentioned on Thursday. “Because the major highway is closed, individuals embark on the hike from a variety of locations.”
Iceland’s meteorological service mentioned Thursday that whereas the fissure appeared to have stopped spewing lava, embers have been nonetheless seen within the lava mattress, and it was too quickly to declare the realm secure.
The police warned individuals to “assume 4 instances” earlier than embarking on an “extraordinarily difficult” hike to the eruption website, which is a few 12-mile round-trip trek from the Reykjanesbraut freeway. About 0.3 miles into the route, the trail turns into tough to cross due to tough lava.
“It may be assumed that it’s going to take an skilled hiker about 4 to 5 hours to stroll this route, which isn’t for everybody,” the police assertion mentioned. In southwestern Iceland, there have been about 4 hours of daylight on Thursday.
The police additionally invoked gasoline air pollution within the space of their assertion, and even Christmas, saying, “We would like emergency responders akin to rescue employees to have the ability to keep at residence in the course of the holidays.”
A helicopter on Tuesday rescued a hiker who had turn into “exhausted, chilly and shocked” midway to the eruption, the police mentioned. Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a authorities spokeswoman, mentioned the terrain close to the eruption was tough, with unstable lava and cracks hidden below snow. “As we now have seen up to now, individuals overestimate their potential,” Ms. Gudmundsdottir mentioned.
Emil Karason, a member of the search and rescue group, mentioned that he encountered two hikers who had accomplished the journey early Thursday morning. Mr. Karason mentioned one of many hikers, an Icelander, had been finishing the trek for the second time. They have been each skilled hikers and didn’t need assistance, he mentioned, however he gave them a journey again for the final leg anyway.
