Iceland: volcanic eruption becomes tourist attraction
Audio 01:10
The volcanic eruption of Mount Fagradalsfjall attracts many curious on March 21, 40 km from Reykjavik.
AFP - JEREMIE RICHARD
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The small volcanic eruption that started Friday night in southwest Iceland is still ongoing as of Tuesday at a steady but low rate.
Lava flowing in a valley near the capital Reykjavík covers around 15 hectares according to scientists' estimates.
The site has become the attraction of the moment in the country, accumulating a total of several thousand visitors over the past weekend.
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With our special correspondent in Fagradalsfjall,
Jérémie Richard
Cutting through
the ground on Friday night
in a small valley near Mount Fagradalsfjall, the crack today turned into a small 30-meter-high crater spewing an uninterrupted flow of lava.
Úlvar Kári Jóhannsson attends the show.
“
It smells pretty bad, but what surprised me the most was the color of orange: much deeper than you might think.
It is absolutely breathtaking.
"
The molten magma freshly expelled from the bowels of the Earth trickles down to the feet of the hundreds of curious people massed in front of the last creation of mother nature in Iceland.
Among them: Émilie Saint-Mleux, a young French student.
“
It was above all the temperature that surprised me.
When we approached the lava that was flowing on the ground, we felt, we took 10-15 ° C more.
And we even all had super red foreheads
!
"
The more far-sighted ones grill bacon, hot dogs or marshmallows under the watchful eyes of rescuers and police, including Atli Gunnarsson.
“
We're here to watch people and make sure they don't go too close to the lava in which case we ask them to back off if need be, we just make sure everything is okay.
"
And everything is, since despite the world, no incidents were reported.
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To read and see: [In pictures] Iceland: the volcanic eruption near Reykjavík continues
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