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The Cocq family home: "a miracle"
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
It is a small miracle in a major catastrophe: In the place El Paraíso, in which more than half of the houses and the school were destroyed by lava masses after the volcanic eruption on La Palma, a house was spared.
Strangely enough, the lava flowed around the house, as can be seen in the impressive photos.
Social media users spoke of a “miracle house”.
Inge and Rainer Cocq, a married couple from Denmark, own the house and are relieved that it is still there, as the Spanish newspaper »El Mundo« reports.
Inge and Rainer Cocq came to the island for the first time three decades ago, this is where they wanted to recharge their batteries.
Many of her friends on the island have lost everything, reports »El Mundo«.
And they are completely frustrated that they are so far away.
"We all cried like crazy when I told them (the owners) that their beloved house was intact," said Ava Monnikendam, who had built the house with her husband.
The Dutchwoman has lived on the island since 1976.
The Danish couple decided specifically for La Palma because of its volcanic landscape, said Monnikendam.
It is "sad to know that the house stands alone without anyone being able to take care of it."
The volcanoes of the Cumbre Vieja mountain range on La Palma held still for half a century.
Then a week before the eruption, more than a thousand quakes shook the island in the northwest of the Canary Islands, the authorities prepared the residents for the disaster.
Since the eruption on Sunday afternoon, the lava from the Montaña Rajada has been flowing down the western slopes of the volcanic ridge and burying houses, schools and banana plantations on its way towards the sea.
Every day the Cumbre Vieja spits out between 6,000 and 11,500 tons of sulfur oxide.
More than 6000 of the 83,000 islanders had to leave their homes and around 400 tourists were brought to Tenerife.
The lava destroyed 350 buildings and 166 hectares of land, according to the European Earth observation service Copernicus.
Regional head of government Ángel Víctor Torres estimated the financial damage, including destroyed plantings and infrastructure, to "certainly more than 400 million euros".
According to the Canarian volcano research institute Involcan, the eruptions can last three to twelve weeks.
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