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This is a style of eruption called "effusive". Works much in the same way as shaking a bottle of Coke and poking a hole in the top - the magma is liquid enough that the bubbles can easily move and spray out the top.
It's "safe" in a sense that it generally doesn't explode like St Helens, because the magma is doesn't trap gas (like oatmeal exploding in the microwave). The big hazard here is the fast moving lava flow if the crater collapses, and toxic sulfur gases. This is easily mitigated by giving it a wide berth.
This was within the first few weeks.
Here's a video from a helicopter showing how close these people are: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fagradalsfjall_volcano_eruption_(helicopter_view).webm
Idiots doing idiot things because they are idiots
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Geologist here. It's a safe one to see up close, but not that close. These tourists are just stupidly close.
The cone is made of unstable fragments of the lava. It could collapse and release another flow of lava in a different direction. It did collapse once but luckily they clamped down on people getting that close by then.
Also a big dollop of lava landing on your head isn't great for health.
Edit: here's a video from a helicopter showing just how close they were and that it wasn't some lens fuckery - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fagradalsfjall_volcano_eruption_(helicopter_view).webm