Icelandic authorities said Friday that a second fissure had formed on the southwestern Reykjanes peninsula after lava started spewing forth for the sixth time in the region since December. After weeks of warnings, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said Thursday that a new eruption had started at 9:26 pm (2126 GMT) that evening, following a series of earthquakes. Video images showed orange lava bursting out of a long fissure, which the IMO estimated to be 3.
9 kilometers (2.4 miles). Early Friday, the IMO announced on social media that a second fissure had opened up to the north of the original one.
However, it said the volcanic activity mostly remained on the first crack. The weather agency, which also monitors geological events, had previously reported that there was "considerable seismic activity" at the northern end of the fissure. About an hour after the eruption started an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.
1 was recorded in the area. This is the sixth eruption to hit the area since December, coming just two months after the end of a previous eruption that lasted more than three weeks. The chief of police of the Sudurnes region, Ulfar Ludviksson, told Icelandic media that the evacuation of the nearby fishing village of Grindavik had gone well.
He added that 22 or 23 houses in the village were currently occupied. Most of Grindavik's 4,000 residents had evacuated in November, prior to a December eruption, and while residents have since been allowed to return in betwee.