© Promote IcelandMount Keilir, about 20 miles south of Reykjavik. Scientists said there was no immediate danger to the public.
Scientists in Iceland have said there are now "strong signs" that a volcanic eruption may be under way following several days of near-constant seismic activity near Mount Keilir about 20 miles south of the capital, Reykjavik.
"We are not saying we have signs an eruption has begun," Kristín Jónsdóttir of the Icelandic meteorological office told local media on Wednesday. "But this looks like the type of activity we expect in the run-up to an eruption."
Víðir Reynisson of the island's civil defence force told a mid-afternoon news conference it was "more likely than not" that an eruption - the first in the area since the 12th century - was about to begin, and could happen within the next few hours.But Víðir said there was "no disaster going on and everyone can get on with their daily lives". There was no immediate danger, he said, although people should avoid travelling to the area on the Reykjanes peninsula.
Thousands of tremors measuring up to 5 on the Richter scale have been recorded on the peninsula during the past week. Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a geophysicist, said that if it came, the eruption could also be delayed by several days.
Comment: Shallow 5.6-magnitude tremor strikes near Reykjavik, Iceland