Iceland volcano: Astonishing footage of spewing lava captured by a drone

Published

2 years ago

December 21, 2023

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Astonishing drone footage has emerged showing both the beauty and destructive nature of Iceland’s erupted volcano.

A gash two miles long has opened up on the Reykjanes peninsula, spewing between 100 and 200 cubic metres of lava every second.

The erupting lava has now been filmed from above, capturing the burning bright molten rock spewing from the earth, before splitting into small tributary-like flows.

Iceland volcano – latest: Warning volcanic eruption could last ‘for months’

Though the lava flow has abated, the Icelandic Met Office says more magma could yet flow from deep within the earth to fuel the fire fountains and perhaps open up new fissures.

Experts say the lava flow could stop over the weekend or next week, or could carry on at a slower rate for weeks or months.

‘Don’t visit the site’

It comes as people in Iceland have been told to stay at home and “get into the Christmas spirit” rather than attempt the risky journey to the eruption site.

Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, communications director for Iceland’s civil defence department, told Icelandic broadcaster RUV that while the lava flow has become less intense, things could still change quickly.

Ms Gudmundsdottir also said teams had spent “a lot of time” turning away people trying to reach the site.

She told RUV that the walk to the fissure is “particularly difficult” and there is a risk of people falling into cracks in the ground.

It would be better to do some Christmas shopping, “get into the Christmas spirit or maybe just have a hot cocoa at home and wrap Christmas presents”, Ms Gudmundsdottir said.

Vidir Reynisson, the head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management, had previously warned that the eruption site was “not a tourist attraction” and warned people to stay away from the area.

It comes after Icelandic media reported that a hiker had to be rescued after getting lost near the eruption site last night.

News website Iceland Monitor cited coast guard officer Asgeir Erlendsson as saying the man had been found safe after a search and brought to safety in a helicopter.

“The helicopter found him and took him back to town,” Mr Erlendsson told the website.

“He had become very cold and had left his equipment with a flashlight in another place, which is why it was thought that these were two men.”

‘Definitely reducing’

It is five weeks since 4,000 people were evacuated from the nearby fishing town of Grindavik in the middle of the night after an intense swarm of earthquakes.

Seismic activity petered out in the following days and scientists began to wonder whether the magma would solidify and never reach the surface.

But on Monday night there was another earthquake swarm and the surface ripped open soon after.

Scientists are using GPS signals from space to precisely measure the height of the ground around the volcanic site.

It had risen by 35cm in some areas, pushed up by the magma rising from beneath.

Since the eruption it has slumped back down by 5cm, an indication that at least some of the pressure below ground has been vented.

But the Icelandic Met Office says more magma could yet flow from deep within the earth to fuel the fire fountains and perhaps open up new fissures.

Dr Katie Reeves, a teaching fellow at the University of Warwick, told Sky News it has been a “really intense but shorter event”.

“The actual lava output is quite significant in this eruption. I believe it’s comparable to the month-long eruption in [July and August] 2023 already in a couple of days,” she said.

The eruption fissure has localised into two “active areas” where cones are now building, Dr Reeves said, though its intensity is “definitely reducing”.

“It may continue at this rate. It may also increase in its rate or open up further along the actual fissure system,” Dr Reeves said.

Halldor Geirsson, associate professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, added: “It is difficult to see exactly what is going on, but when you get some glimpses through the snow it is obvious that it is just less and less lava flow.”

Mr Geirsson said the eruption could stop over the weekend or next week, or lava flows could carry on at a slower rate for weeks or months.

The “most likely scenario is that it just stops”, he said.

“But if that happens, the pressure will start building again in the magma chamber, which is likely to trigger another eruption after a few weeks,” he added.

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

Published

6 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.

Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.

The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.

It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.

Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.

But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.

It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.

Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.

Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.

That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.

The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.

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Meredith Kercher’s killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

Published

18 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Meredith Kercher's killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.

Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.

He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.

Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.

Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.

Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.

The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.

The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.

Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.

Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.

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IDF blames ‘technical error’ after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike

Published

21 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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IDF blames 'technical error' after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike

The Israeli military says it missed its intended target after Gaza officials said 10 Palestinians – including six children – were killed in a strike at a water collection point.

Another 17 people were wounded in the strike on a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al Awda Hospital.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant but a “technical error with the munition” had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.

The IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it “works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.

Officials at Al Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after the Israeli strike on the water collection point and six children were among the dead.

Ramadan Nassar, who lives in the area, said around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water.

When the strike occurred, everyone ran and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said.

In total, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health officials said.

Two women and three children were among nine killed after an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida, officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.

Israel has claimed it hit more than 150 targets in the besieged enclave in the past day.

The latest strikes come after the Israel military opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah on Saturday. The Red Cross said 31 people were killed.

The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 58,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.

But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough, as a new sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce.

Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.