The surfer who kept his cool in the face of a volcano

Tell most people a volcano is erupting and you can bet most of them will start running in the opposite direction before you finish the sentence.

But not in the case of pro-surfer C J Kanuha, who grabbed his board and paddled out to sea to get a closer look as the lava of the world's most active volcano, Kilauea, hit the waters.

Tentative at first, the adrenalin-junkie paddled to within 20ft of the lava, before moving back from water that reached 200C in places, melting the wax on his surfboard and burning his feet in the process.

Kilauea, meaning 'much spreading', has been continually erupting in Hawaii since 1983, but more molten rock than usual is flowing from an outbreak that started last November.

Lava has been spewing as high as 150ft in the air at temperatures up to 1,200C and a surface flow is snaking east from the crater.

Meanwhile, underground 'tubes' are expelling lava into the Pacific ocean creating huge clouds of steam and ash.

But none of this fazed C J as he set out on his daredevil mission.

Scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have also reported an 'unusually high amount of sulphur dioxide gas' emerging from one of the craters.