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Tourists Are Told to Stay Away from Erupting Volcano in Iceland Because of Poisonous Gases 

People watch flowing lava during an volcanic eruption near Litli Hrutur, south-west of Reykjavik in Iceland on July 10, 2023. (AFP)
People watch flowing lava during an volcanic eruption near Litli Hrutur, south-west of Reykjavik in Iceland on July 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Tourists Are Told to Stay Away from Erupting Volcano in Iceland Because of Poisonous Gases 

People watch flowing lava during an volcanic eruption near Litli Hrutur, south-west of Reykjavik in Iceland on July 10, 2023. (AFP)
People watch flowing lava during an volcanic eruption near Litli Hrutur, south-west of Reykjavik in Iceland on July 10, 2023. (AFP)

Authorities in Iceland on Tuesday warned tourists and other spectators to stay away from a newly erupting volcano that is spewing lava and noxious gases from a fissure in the country’s southwest. 

The eruption began Monday afternoon after thousands of earthquakes in the area, meteorological authorities said. This one comes 11 months after its last eruption officially ended. The eruption is in an uninhabited valley near the Litli-Hrútur mountain, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik. 

The area, known broadly as Fagradalsfjall volcano, erupted in 2021 and 2022 without causing damage or disruptions to flights, despite being near Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s international air traffic hub. The airport remained open on Tuesday. 

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said the eruption was initially more explosive than the previous two. Aerial footage showed streams of orange molten lava and clouds of gases spewing from a snaking fissure about 900 meters (half a mile) long. 

“Gas pollution is high around the eruption and dangerous,” the Met Office said. “Travelers are advised not to enter the area until responders have had a chance to evaluate conditions.” 

By Tuesday morning, the fissure and the volume of the eruption had shrunk, scientists said. 

“This has become a small eruption, which is very good news,” University of Iceland geophysics professor Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson told national broadcaster RUV. 

He said the eruption could “certainly last a long time, but luckily we’re not looking at a continuation of what we saw in the first few hours.” 

A 2021 eruption in the same area produced spectacular lava flows for several months. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to see the sight. 

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, averages an eruption every four to five years. 

The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which sent huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe. More than 100,000 flights were grounded, stranding millions of international travelers and halting air travel for days because of concerns the ash could damage jet engines.

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Varieties

Tourists Return to Post-Olympic Paris for Holiday Magic

Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
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Tourists Return to Post-Olympic Paris for Holiday Magic

Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

Holidaymakers are returning to Paris for winter holiday magic as the tourism industry rebounds, inspired by the successful Olympic Games and the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral.
"This year there is much more tourism than last time I came here. Much much more. Many more people," said Noemi Rizzato, a tourist from Milan who braved the cold to visit the Place du Trocadero on the Right Bank of Paris, bundled up in her down jacket, AFP said.
Georges Bardot, a 78-year-old pensioner from eastern France, also pointed to large numbers of foreign tourists amid the holiday hustle and bustle in the City of Light.
"We heard every language except French spoken on the metro," Bardot laughed.
This winter, Parisian hotels are experiencing a surge in demand.
The booking rate for two-week Christmas vacations neared 70 percent in mid-December, nine percentage points higher than a year ago, according to data from MKG Consulting.
Top-of-the-range establishments are doing particularly well, with an increase of nearly 14 points over one year.
According to the UMIH hotel and restaurant union, well-heeled international customers are making a comeback.
Frank Delvau, UMIH president for the Paris region, pointed to an "Olympic effect".
The Games "have made tourists want to come back, or to visit", he said.
Tourism professionals said the world's largest sporting event led to a lackluster summer in Paris.
Wealthy Parisians fled the capital for the summer and many foreign holidaymakers chose to stay away due to transport gridlock and a security crackdown. Hotels and airlines such as Air France saw a drop in bookings, while taxi drivers and restaurant owners said their businesses had been badly affected.
With five billion viewers, the Paris Games were the most followed Games in television and social media history, according to the International Olympic Committee.
- 'Time to go to Paris' -
"We needed this catch-up effect because the situation was very difficult in the third quarter," Delvau said.
"There was a very sharp fall in visitor numbers. The restaurant business was down 40 percent, 50 percent at times," he added.
From November 1 to December 8, international air arrivals to Paris rose by 15.4 percent compared to 2023, to reach 1.3 million, according to the Paris Tourist Office.
On the Ile de la Cite, the island site of Notre Dame cathedral, shopkeepers eagerly await the return of visitors after five years of reconstruction work, as well as the coronavirus lockdowns that saw a drop in tourist numbers.
"The Notre Dame opening this year was the biggest item on our list," said Teju Arora, an engineer from the United States.
"And we did visit Notre Dame, it was amazing. It's a beautiful site and it was great to see, to pray, to visit," said Arora, wearing a red beret.
Around 270,000 people have visited the medieval masterpiece in the first eight days since Notre Dame reopened in early December, rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas told French daily Le Parisien. "Around 30,000 people a day enter the cathedral."
Tourists "tell themselves it's time to go to Paris", Delvau said.
"They have both Notre Dame and the department stores' windows, which always attract a lot of people."