A volcano has erupted in south-west Iceland, posing an immediate threat to a nearby small fishing town although it had been evacuated earlier and no people were in danger, authorities say.

Early-morning video footage from the site showed fountains of molten rock spewing from fissures in the ground, the bright orange lava flow glowing against the dark sky.

“No lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat,” Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson said on social media site X, adding there had been no interruptions to flights.

The eruption began early on Sunday north of the town of Grindavik, which the previous day had been evacuated for the second time in a month over fears that an outbreak was imminent amid a swarm of seismic activity, authorities said.

Authorities have been building barriers of earth and rock in recent weeks to try to prevent lava from reaching Grindavik, 40 kilometres south-west of the capital Reykjavik, but the latest eruption appeared to have penetrated the town’s defences.

-Reuters