Tourists flock to Iceland's newly erupted volcano: 'Indescribable' heat and roar

People visit the scene of the newly erupted volcano taking place in Meradalir valley, near mount Fagradalsfjall, Iceland on August 4, 2022. The eruption is some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Reykjavik, near the site of the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano that erupted for six months in March-September 2021, mesmerising tourists and spectators who flocked to the scene. – Photo: AFP

The ground rumbles underfoot, then roars as red-orange lava fountains shoot up from the ground, the intense heat cloaking the nearby crowd awestruck by Iceland's latest volcanic eruption.

"It's indescribable", says 40-year-old French tourist Magalie Viannisset, one of the curious onlookers gazing in wonder on Thursday at the fissure that opened up a day earlier in an uninhabited valley just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Iceland's capital Reykjavik.