REYKJAVIK, May 25: The eruption of Iceland's Grimsvoetn volcano has tailed off and its ash plume has almost disappeared, experts and officials said on Wednesday, refusing though to declare the flight-disrupting incident closed.

“The plume is very low, a couple of hundred metres,” or 600-700 feet, Urdur Gunnarsdottir, a spokeswoman for the civil crisis management agency said after a midday (1200 GMT) update. The remaining plume appeared mainly to comprise steam, not ash, she said.

“It's much reduced, but there is still ... danger of occasional explosions or a puff coming up,” she said, adding: “I don't think we want to pronounce it dead until it's dead.”

Iceland's most active volcano, located at the heart of its biggest glacier, Vatnajoekull, in the southeast, began erupting on Saturday, spewing a column of smoke and ash as high as 20 kilometres into the air.—AFP