Fears of more flight chaos as Iceland sees new eruption

Safety experts warned Sunday that ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano that closed the country's airspace may blow across large swathes of western Europe, raising fears of new flight chaos.
Air safety officials said ash from the Grimsvoetn eruption may reach north Scotland by Tuesday before sweeping across Britain to hit France and Spain two days later, as experts said the impact should not be as far-reaching as 2010 when a similar event caused widespread flight cancellations.
Ash deposits were sprinkled over the capital Reykjavik Sunday, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the west of the volcano which spewed a cloud about 20 kilometres into the sky.
Residents living near to Grimsvoetn said the skies had turned black in an eerie echo of last year's eruption of the smaller Eyjafjoell volcano which led to the biggest global airspace shutdown since World War II.
"It's just black outside, and you can hardly tell it is supposed to be bright daylight," Bjorgvin Hardarsson, a farmer at Hunbakkar Farm in the nearby village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur told AFP by phone.
"It's been very dark. You'd think it was night," agreed Vilhelm Tunnarsson, a photographer for local Icelandic media staying at a nearby hotel, adding at times he had been unable to see 30 centimetres (11 inches) in front of him.