Mauna Loa lava no longer imminent threat to Hawaii highway

A man talks on a phone in his car alongside Saddle Road as the Mauna Loa volcano erupts near Hilo, Hawaii (Gregory Bull/AP/PA)

Lava from the world’s largest volcano is no longer an imminent threat to the main highway across the Big Island of Hawaii, scientists said.

Mauna Loa was still erupting on Thursday morning, but the lava that was feeding the flow heading toward the crucial road has been cut off, said David Phillips, deputy scientist-in-charge at US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.