Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon was evacuated after a volcano eruption on Reykjanes Peninsula on Thursday, August 22, and was closed while the situation is being reassessed. The Icelandic Met Office reported an “intense earthquake swarm” began in the crater row on Thursday evening and was rapidly expanding. The eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in southwest Iceland, is the sixth outbreak since December. The attraction has also closed several times over the past few months due to volcanic activity in southwest Iceland.
The spa posted a statement on their website on Thursday, saying: “We took the precautionary measure of evacuating and temporarily closing all our operational units. Blue Lagoon will be closed tomorrow, Friday 23 August, at which time the situation will be reassessed.” One visitor who was at the lagoon at the time it was evacuated documented the experience on TikTok. Filming herself as everyone made their way out of the lagoon, she expressed, “We are being evacuated from the Blue Lagoon in Iceland because there has been volcanic activity detected.”
“It’s pretty terrifying for a volcano to go off while you’re way in the back of the pool. They rushed us out.” The visitor added that they had to leave quickly, noting: “I’m scared, just seriously – very scary.” In the journey away from the area, she recorded a clip of the volcano with red smoke coming out of it as they passed by, saying, “I’m getting it on my phone, that’s crazy.”
Iceland’s ministry for foreign affairs stated on social media that the volcano’s impact “is limited to a localised area near the eruption site” and “does not present a threat to life and the area nearby was evacuated.” Since 2021, the Reykjanes Peninsula has seen eight eruptions, prompting authorities to declare an emergency. An international team of scientists from institutions including the University of Oregon, Uppsala University in Sweden, and the University of Iceland has been closely monitoring these volcanic activities and predicts that the region might experience more regular eruptions in the near future.