Several hundred people have been evacuated¹ from their homes, as a volcano erupted in southern Iceland.

冰岛南部一座火山爆发，数百人被从家中撤离。

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The eruption lit up the night sky just after midnight on Sunday

The volcano near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier³（冰河，冰川） began to erupt shortly after midnight, leading to road closures（关闭，中止） in the area.

No one was in immediate⁴ 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（撤离，疏散） 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.

There are fears that the volcano could cause flooding, as it causes ice to melt on the glacier above it.

"Ash has already begun to fall in Fljotshlid and people in the surrounding area have reported seeing bright lights emanating⁵ from（放射，发源于） the glacier," RUV public radio said on its website.

"It was a bit scary, but still amazing to see," Katrin Moller Eiriksdottir, who lives in Fljotshlid, told the BBC News website.

"The ash had started falling and we couldn't leave the car. They have now closed the road but we'll see what happens in the morning."

Three Icelandair flights, bound for Reykjavik from the United States, have been ordered to return to Boston, RUV radio reported, and much of Icelandic air space is a no-fly zone.

The last volcanic⁶ eruption（火山喷发） in the area occurred in 1821.