Iceland's volcanic eruption raises fears of contamination, spa released by Reuters
(This August 23 story has been reposted to correct the spelling of 'Massachusetts' in section 6)
By Isabelle Yr Carlsson and Tom Little
COPENHAGEN – A volcano spewed lava and smoke in southwest Iceland for a second day on Friday, with fears of further contamination hours after its eruption forced the evacuation of a spa resort.
Fountains of glowing molten rock shot into the night sky as a volcano erupted on the Reykjanes Peninsula on Thursday.
The flow from the volcano has decreased, said Rikke Pedersen, head of the Nordic Volcanological Centre. “We have a strong source and a high output at the beginning and it goes down quickly, but that doesn't tell us anything about how long it will last.”
The weather office warned that the wind could carry gas pollution from the explosion to the south and southeast.
The nearby Blue Lagoon spa, which has large outdoor pools heated by geothermal energy, was released late on Thursday and said it would remain closed on Friday.
“We just went there as tourists looking for a good day,” said real estate agent Dennis Murphy, of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who was there with his daughter.
“Next thing you know, the ground explodes around us,” the 53-year-old said. They watched the sky turn red as they were taken out.
“Of course there was a sense of urgency as we were trying to get out of there. The workers were throwing all our belongings into a bag saying, you have to get out of here,” he added.
About 1,300 guests and employees were at the spa, Icelandic daily Morgunbladid reported.
Lava began to flow out of the volcano at a rate of up to 2,000 cubic meters (70,600 cubic feet) per second, making it comparable to the last eruption in May, said Pedersen of the Nordic Volcanological Center.
The length of the fissure at the volcano, which has erupted six times since December, grew to 5 km (3.1 miles) during the day from 3.9 km late Thursday, Pedersen said.
The nearby fishing town of Grindavik, which was threatened by volcanic lava and earthquakes during earlier eruptions, was not directly affected, the weather office said.
The lava flow stopped near a nearby road, Pedersen said.
Flights and arrivals at the airport in the capital Keflavik were not affected, it said on its website on Friday.
