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Volcanic eruption on La Palma: Lava flows to "several places" on the coast - hundreds of tourists evacuated

2021-09-20T05:50:55.682Z


It is a rare natural event that is currently happening on La Palma. A volcano spews lava hundreds of meters, several places on the coast could be affected. Tourists also had to be evacuated.


It is a rare natural event that is currently happening on La Palma.

A volcano spews lava hundreds of meters, several places on the coast could be affected.

Tourists also had to be evacuated.

La Palma - It is a very special natural event that is currently taking place on the island of La Palma in the Atlantic, which is popular with tourists.

The local volcano erupted again for the first time in 50 years, with lava flowing towards the coast.

Thousands of people have already had to be brought to safety, including countless holidaymakers.

Volcanic eruption on La Palma: Lava flows to "several places" on the coast - hundreds of tourists evacuated

At around 3:12 p.m. local time (4:12 p.m. CEST), the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma was shaken by violent explosions for the first time on Sunday.

Smoke, ash and stones were thrown through the air in the area of ​​the Cumbre Vieja in the south of the small island, which lies in the very north-west of the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain.

The pictures show spectacular fountains of fire, the nameless volcano shoots its lava hundreds of meters into the night sky.

By late evening, at least seven chimneys were counted, i.e. different places where volcanic material emerged, reported the state television broadcaster RTVE.

The authorities called a red alert on a volcano emergency plan and began evacuations.

Volcanic eruption on La Palma: Thousands of people brought to safety - uncertainty about German tourists

There were initially no reports of injuries. The outbreak lies in an unpopulated area of ​​the island, which has a total of 83,000 inhabitants, reported the local television station Canarias7, citing the regional head of government of the Canaries, Ángel Víctor Torres. Because of approaching lava, which rolled downhill in the dark in orange-glowing rivers towards the coast, about 5000 residents of the villages of El Paso, Llanos de Aridane and the seaside resort of Tazacorte on the west coast of the island were brought to safety, the police said. 500 of them were tourists. It is not yet known whether there are also Germans among the tourists.



Several country houses went up in flames when they were reached by the lava, which was around 1000 degrees Celsius.

"There will probably be more destruction because the lava flows towards several places," said Lucas Leal, one of the residents of the affected area, on television.

According to media reports, the authorities did not rule out that up to 10,000 people would have to be brought to safety.

Volcanic eruption on La Palma: Authorities had already expected a natural event

Meanwhile, the fire brigade had to move out again and again to fight bush and forest fires that flared up due to the volcanic eruption and at the edge of the lava flows. Units of the Spanish military were also marched to the island. The authorities called on the population to remain calm. The outbreak has not been particularly intense so far. However, warnings were given about the ash from the volcano and possibly harmful gases. Onlookers were asked to leave the area so as not to obstruct the evacuations.



La Palma is located in the north-west of the Canaries, an archipelago in the Atlantic off the west coast of Africa. It is 85 kilometers from the nearest larger island of Tenerife, which is also very popular with German tourists, and 57 kilometers from La Gomera.



The volcanic eruption does not come as a surprise to local authorities. The natural event had already announced itself in the past few days. Over 6,000 small and medium-sized earthquakes are said to have already indicated the volcanic eruption, and a slight rise in the ground was also recorded. Authorities had already asked residents near the area to prepare light luggage and important documents in the event of an evacuation.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-09-20

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