Hikers evacuated as new fissure opens up at Icelandic volcano

Steam and lava spurt from a new fissure on a volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland (Marco Di Marco/AP)

Steam and lava have spurted from a new fissure at an Icelandic volcano that began erupting last month, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of hikers who had come to see the spectacle.

The new fissure, first spotted by a sightseeing helicopter, was about 500 metres (550 yards) long and about a kilometre (around half a mile) from the original eruption site in the Geldinga Valley.