Countless travelers were affected by the latest volcanic activity in Iceland as ash clouds drifted towards the northern reaches of Europe, which include Ireland, Britain and the Nordic countries. Airports were forced to close and hundreds of flights were canceled on Thursday, April 15, 2010.

Airports in London closed at 12 p.m. (UK time), including Heathrow, the world’s second busiest airport that handles more than 180,000 passengers and 1,200 flights every day.

A volcano in Iceland erupted and started spewing steam and smoke, causing major roads to close down and people to evacuate their homes. The clouds of ash and smoke also posed as “a significant safety threat to aircraft,” according to Britain’s National Air Traffic Service, because the volcanic debris could get sucked into plane engines and visibility could be compromised.

It has also been reported that planes flying in were forced to turn around in the middle of the flight.

News reports from around Europe said that airports in Finland, northern Russia and Denmark may have also been affected.

The volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier of Iceland erupted on Wednesday, April 14, for the second time in one month, releasing massive amounts of ash thousands of feet into the sky. According to scientists, the eruption was 10 to 20 times more powerful than the previous time.