Fiona Govan
A VOLCANO is erupting on La Palma in the Canary Islands for the first time in fifty years.
Smoke began to escape from fissures that appeared along a ridge in the the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island around 3pm on Sunday.
Within minutes later red hot lava plumes spewed into the sky.
Huge billows of thick smoke could be seen from across the island.
Residents in villages across the south of the island have been told to evacuate.
Several roads have already been blocked by lava flow.
At least seven fissures had opened up along a ridge before darkness fell.
The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute posted images of the eruption while authorities warned residents not to approach the lava.
When the volcano last erupted in 1971 the only mortality was a man who was killed as he attempted to photograph the eruption.
La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight islands in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast.
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