REYKJAVIK: Tourists and hikers were evacuated Wednesday near a massive rumbling volcano in Iceland as the threat of eruption raised fears of a replay of the air traffic chaos caused when another peak blew four years ago.

Iceland’s Civil Protection Authority told public broadcaster RUV that it had finished the evacuation from around the Bardarbunga volcano but that further air patrols would be carried out to ensure no-one remained.

The authority said the volcano was stable on Wednesday, but still in danger of erupting.

The eruption of Iceland’s smaller Eyjafjoell volcano in April 2010 caused global travel chaos, stranding more than eight million travelers as volcanic ash spread across Europe.

Scientists believe the Bardarbunga volcano is large enough to disrupt air traffic over northern Europe and the northern Atlantic as well as causing major damage on the island nation from volcanic ash and glacial flooding.

Up to 300 people were believed to be have been evacuated in the area around the volcano, located in eastern Iceland under the country’s largest glacier Vatnajoekull.

The area is uninhabited, with only trekking cabins and campsites used by tourists and hunters in the summer months.