Enlarge image
Volcanic eruption on La Palma
Photo: BORJA SUAREZ / REUTERS
On the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma, a volcano erupted on Sunday in the area of the Cumbre Vieja.
There was a violent explosion in the municipality of El Paso in the south of the island, reported the newspaper »El País«.
Then a large cloud of ash formed.
From Saturday last week to Wednesday, more than a thousand earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 3.4 were registered in the region.
This is related to the displacement of almost eleven million cubic meters of magma inside the volcano, the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute announced.
The authorities had called on people near the volcanic area to prepare light luggage with their cell phones, important documents and any medicines they might need.
Last eruption 50 years ago
Evacuations have already started in the nearest, relatively sparsely populated areas.
Soldiers have been ordered to the region to help, the Ministry of Defense said.
Some farms with livestock were also evacuated as a precaution.
The authorities now want to wait for further developments.
The last time there was a volcanic eruption 50 years ago, when the Teneguía hurled lava into the air in 1971, was on the small island with 83,000 inhabitants in the northwest of the Canary Islands.
There is no mass tourism on La Palma like on the better known islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife.
rai / dpa / AFP
