Hundreds evacuated amid Icelandic volcano fears

Hundreds of people in Iceland have been evacuated from their homes amid fears of a second volcanic eruption, Civil Protection Agency officials said today.

Rognvaldur Olafsson, a chief inspector for the Icelandic agency, said some 800 people near the Eyjafjallajokull volcano were evacuated this morning after reports of seismic activity suggested it may have erupted for the second time.

The volcano erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.

Mr Olafsson said heavy cloud cover was preventing scientists from flying over the glacier to determine what precisely was happening and whether the volcano had actually erupted.

But fears of flash floods from melting ice near the volcano prompted authorities to evacuate as a precaution.