Iceland closed its main international airport Sunday following the eruption of a volcano in the south-east of the country, aviation authorities said. Most flights were able to leave Keflavik airport before the airport was closed Sunday morning, Hjordis Gudmunsdottir of the aviation authority Isavia told the German Press Agency "DPA". "The ash cloud was not heading to Europe but hanging over Iceland," she said. "It looks like we will be having problems in Iceland today." The decision also affected other Icelandic airports, while transatlantic flights would be diverted south of Iceland, she said. The Grimsvotn volcano began to erupt on Saturday, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The plume above the volcano was estimated to be at least 17 kilometres high, geophysicist Einar Kjartansson told DPA. But the prevailing winds suggested that the Grimsvotn ash cloud would in the coming days blow north and not affect mainland Europe.
