The Hawaiian government is being faced with a new menace when it comes to the ongoing eruption of Kilauea – people taking selfies.
A swathe of both tourists and locals have been arrested or cautioned in the last month after attempting to take selfies and photographs of the lava. Restricted zones were introduced to protect people from the dangerous flow after the volcano first erupted back in early May.
Those caught beyond barriers and loitering in dangerous spots on Big Island now face jail time of up to one year,along with fines of up to $US5000 ($A6775).
To date,around 40 people have been arrested for scrambling over barriers,state officials told Fortune,with a dozen of those occurring in the last ten days.
The first recorded eruption-related injury was reported May 20 when a man was injured by flying lava as he sat on his third floor balcony. Janet Snyder,a spokesperson for the Office of the Mayor,County of Hawaii,said that lava spatters"can weigh as much as a refrigerator and even small pieces of spatter can kill."
Closer proximity to the flow is incredibly dangerous. Not only has the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported visible"standing waves"flowing at speeds up to 27 km/h (that's faster than the average human can run),but it is also causing light ash fall and emitting noxious gases.
"Laze"are clouds of hydrochloric acid and steam laced with gas particles that form as the lava runs into the sea."Even the wispy edges of it can cause skin and eye irritation and breathing difficulties,"a spokesman for the US Geological Survey warned.