Iceland braces for ‘imminent’ volcanic eruption with just 30 minutes warning

Iceland watches on helplessly as rescue workers escorting locals back to the evacuated fishing town of Grindavik say it is “now a waiting game” before an eruption. Gripped viewers are glued to main TV News channel RUV.is as it plays a live stream of the glowing crater with modern Icelandic electronic music underneath as the countdown continued on Tuesday. It comes as 1,200 households scramble to grab as many “heartfelt” objects as they can under observation from rescue teams from the town above the volatile Reykjanes Peninsula. The police checkpoint lies 25km away from the town but only 12km from cracks starting to form across the roads and stretching far into the mountains. On Tuesday, families waved as they were allowed out with cars full of toys, photographs and one vehicle towing a jetski amid intense hail storms and heavy winds hampering accurate seismic readings. Britons were still boarding flights to Rejkavic with a nearly full plane on Monday morning unperturbed by reports of the possible eruption. Flights with airlines including Icelandair, Easyjet, Wizz Air and Transavia France have been cancelled due to the weather on Tuesday.<br/>