Volcano erupts in south Iceland

**Several hundred people have been evacuated from their homes, as a volcano erupted in southern Iceland.**The volcano near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier began to erupt shortly after midnight, leading to road closures in the area.

No-one was in immediate danger, but 500 people were being moved from the area, a civil protection officer said.

It is almost 200 years since a volcano near Eyjafjallajoekull, 120km (75 miles) east of Reykjavik, last erupted.

“We estimate that no one is in danger in the area but we have started an evacuation plan and between 500 and 600 people are being evacuated” Sigurgeir Gudmundsson of the Icelandic civil protections department told the Agence France-Presse news agency.