France's Reunion warns of 'probable or imminent' volcanic eruption

Saint Denis de La R union: France s Reunion island warned early Thursday of the probable or imminent eruption of its Piton de la Fournaise volcano,...

Saint-Denis de La Réunion: France's Reunion island warned early Thursday of the "probable or imminent eruption" of its Piton de la Fournaise volcano, one of the most active in the world.

All access to the volcano has been closed after the The Piton de la Fournaise Observatory detected a "seismic crisis" starting at around 4:47 am (0047 GMT), the island's prefecture said on X.

"This indicates that magma is leaving the magmatic reservoir and propagating toward the surface," the observatory said in a statement on Thursday.

The prefecture declared an Alert Level 1, warning on X that an eruption is "probable or imminent".

It also ordered the closure of the volcano's caldera as of 6:00 am, January 1.