Embers of a dying fire: Surprise and relief as Iceland volcano simmers down
It’s eight in the morning and pitch dark as we climb into the Iceland coastguard helicopter. This far north, it won’t be light for hours.
The darkness may make the pilots’ jobs harder – relying on night vision helmets to navigate – but it helps the rest of us.
For as we approach the site of the eruption, all we can make out is faint orange smudges of light.
The eruption has died down quicker than many expected
Just 72 hours ago we would have been flying over a two-mile-long curtain of fire: Lava being forced 40-50 metres into the air by a vast chamber of magma less than a kilometre below the surface.
Only a few hours before we took off, webcams showed a few cones of lava were still sputtering away in the darkness.
But it’s now like looking into the embers of a dying fire.
We come in for a precarious landing on a hilltop next to the lava field, guided by a spotlight to search for even ground.
Dr Kristin Jonsdottir says it’s a ‘huge surprise’ the lava has stopped
The idea is to give seismologist Dr Kristin Jonsdottir, from Iceland‘s meteorological office, a more stable view of the lava – not that it changes what was obvious from the air.
“It’s a huge surprise the lava activity has stopped,” she tells me, as we peer down at the almost dark lava field.
The activity of the eruption has been slowing, but few expected it to stop so quickly given the initial surge of lava: at one point, equivalent to four times the flow of water down the Thames in London.
But it’s good news for the first responders and emergency planners who it now looks like will get a break for Christmas after all.
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Volcano produces stunning lava flows
It’s also some relief for the 4,000 evacuated residents of Grindavik, who were allowed back to their homes for a few hours today.
Huge cracks appeared in the town last month as rising magma lifted up the ground below. There were concerns it could be consumed by a river of lava.
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The eruption stopped a few kilometres away, sparing the town’s power plant and the hugely popular Blue Lagoon hydrothermal spa.
But there’s little prospect of residents being back in their home before Christmas.
Evacuated resident Sigridur Jonasdottir is unsure if she’ll return to Grindavik
Some aren’t sure they even want to return. We met Sigridur Jonasdottir packing up her last remaining possessions.
“I don’t think I’ll come back,” she tells me.
After earthquake damage, seven weeks of evacuation, and the threat of rivers of fire running down the hill into town, she doesn’t believe she’ll be able to stay in her house – or sell it.
The volcano may go silent for centuries once again but for her the future is simply too uncertain.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
World
Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people waiting for aid in Khan Younis, Hamas-run health ministry says
Israeli tank shellfire has killed at least 51 Palestinians in Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Hundreds of others have been injured, with “dozens of critical cases” arriving at a medical complex.
It is feared that the number of fatalities will rise.
Pic: Reuters
The strikes took place as people waited for United Nations and commercial aid trucks in the southern Gaza city.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd.
“Emergency, intensive care, and operating rooms are experiencing severe overcrowding,” a statement said.
Officials say medical staff “are operating with limited supplies of life-saving medicines” – with the ministry renewing an “urgent appeal” to increase aid.
Pic: Reuters
Hours earlier, Donald Trump had joined other G7 leaders to call for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza”.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on this incident.
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 34 people were shot dead near food distribution centres.
This was the highest reported daily total since Israel and US-backed aid centres opened last month, with thousands of Palestinians moving through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach them.
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