Authorities in Iceland have evacuated an area popular with tourists over fears that the country’s Bardarbunga volcano could erupt.
The area, more than 190 miles from the capital Reykjavik, has no permanent residents but sits within a national park that attracts many tourists.
Around 300 people had to be removed as part of the evacuation, which came as geologists said about 300 earthquakes had been detected in the area since Tuesday night.
Earlier this week, scientists warned that if an eruption does occur it would be big enough to disrupt air traffic over the Atlantic.
Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano blew in 2010, producing an ash cloud that severely disrupted European air travel and impacted hundreds of thousands of passengers.
On Monday, Iceland’s meteorological office raised its assessment of the risk level to the aviation industry from yellow to orange, the fourth highest on a five-step scale.
Orange indicates that a volcano is showing ‘escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption’.
