A tourist flying over Iceland on Thursday morning got the view of a lifetime after her easyJet flight gave her a perfect view of the country’s latest volcanic eruption.
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At X, the excited traveler said: ‘My life has reached its peak. Nothing ever beats this. The volcano erupted last night in Iceland.
According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), volcanic activity began in the Sundhnukagigar fissure outside the town of Grindavik at 11:14 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Kayleigh told MailOnline that her flight the next morning turned out to be a great start to her winter holiday, and said the atmosphere on board was “amazing” as people realized what they were seeing.
The tourist, who is still in Iceland, says there were mixed reactions on board, with some people a little nervous about Mother Nature’s ferocious display: “I wasn’t worried, but I think some people on the plane were.” . I’m a very calm person and I think if it was really dangerous, they would have diverted us.
‘The pilot announced it long before we could all see it, but the atmosphere was incredible! Everyone was gasping and filming it and amazed.
Nothing beats this: a screenshot taken of footage of Kayleigh as her easyJet flight from Luton began its descent into Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport on Thursday morning.
In the images you can see rivers of lava and magma along with columns of volcanic smoke.
“I felt so sorry for everyone on the right side of the plane, so I held my phone up to the window so everyone could see it too.”
Kayleigh took the images as the plane began its descent towards Keflavik International Airport on Thursday morning, after leaving Luton Airport at around 9am.
She says you can still see the volcano from the mainland: “You can see the eruption from most of the island at night because it is so bright.”
The volcano is located 20 miles southwest of Reykjavik, where the most recent eruption ended on September 6.
The latest volcanic release began after a “small earthquake” at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
This will be the 10th eruption in three years, the country’s meteorological office said.
The nearby fishing village of Grindavik, which was home to almost 4,000 residents before the evacuation order was issued in December last year, remains largely deserted due to the threat of lava flows.
The remaining 50 to 60 residents, the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon tourist attraction, a spa with hotels and large natural pools, have been evacuated.
It seems that the gas pollution will go south and out to sea, so there will be no harmful effects for locals.
Dramatic videos and photographs showed a wall of magma lighting up the sky in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Spectacular images broadcast live from the volcano showed orange-red lava gushing from a long fissure surrounded by thick smoke.
Kayleigh is still currently in Iceland, after flying out on Thursday for vacation; She described seeing the volcano erupt and said, “My life has peaked.”
The peninsula’s volcanoes had not erupted for 800 years until March 2021, when a period of intense seismic activity began.
Since then, volcanologists have warned that volcanic activity in the region had entered a new era.
The latest eruption is smaller than the previous one, at the end of August, the IMO said in a statement.
“The spills are smaller and the lava does not flow as fast,” Ofeigsson added.
Most of Grindavik’s 4,000 inhabitants were evacuated a year ago, shortly before the first volcanic eruption in the area.
Since then, almost all the houses have been sold to the state and the residents have left.
“In the last few nights, about fifty houses were occupied,” reported the civil protection department.
In January, during another eruption, three houses in the town were engulfed in flames.
The Blue Lagoon has announced that it will remain closed at least until Sunday.
A statement on their website reads: ‘Due to a volcanic eruption that began in Sundhnúksgígar on November 20, we took the precautionary measure of evacuating and temporarily closing all our operational units.
Photo of lava flowing down one of the roads near Grindavik on Thursday morning
Total flow: The new volcanic eruption photographed after it began on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula on Wednesday night
Fire and Ice: Enveloping the surrounding landscape, an icy path can be seen in the path of the last eruption
A photograph released by the Icelandic State Police Commissioner’s Public Defense Department shows the impact the newly erupting fissure has had in southwestern Iceland.
Active lava flows in front of the road heading to the Blue Lagoon near Grindavik
A University of Iceland scientist observes the lava flow Thursday morning
Those at the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa near the town of Grindavik have also been evacuated; The tourist attraction will remain closed at least until Sunday.
Benedikt Ófeigsson of the Norwegian Meteorological Agency told local outlet Channel 2: “There is currently nothing in danger and, if this does not evolve very differently than it has been doing, the infrastructure should escape quite well.”
Icelandic authorities have erected barriers to divert flows of molten rock away from the town of Grindavik, the power station and the Blue Lagoon.
Scientists have warned that Reykjanes is likely to experience repeated volcanic outbreaks for decades, possibly even centuries.
But the eruptions are not expected to cause the level of disruption seen when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, spreading ash clouds across Europe and causing the cancellation of about 100,000 flights worldwide.