The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish Canary island of La Palma erupted on Sunday, the Canary Islands Institute of Volcanology tweeted at 10:24 a.m. (Miami time).

In a video posted on Twitter by the institute, a large plume of smoke is seen emerging from afar.

The head of the local government, Ángel Torres Pérez, rated the first images of the eruption as “impressive”.

“I have just notified the Spanish Prime Minister,” he tweeted on Sunday. “This afternoon I will be in the Head Committee of PEVOLCA (Civil Protection and Attention to Volcanic Risk Emergencies) to assess the situation.”

Local authorities asked people to stay away.

“We call on people to be extremely cautious and stay away from the eruption area to avoid unnecessary risks,” tweeted the local government on Sunday.

“It is also very important to keep the roads clear so that they can be used by our ground agents.”

The island was on alert for a possible volcanic eruption after several earthquakes were felt over the weekend. Hours earlier, the institute wrote in a statement posted on Facebook that more than 25,000 earthquakes had been detected in the last nine days around the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

People with disabilities had already been evacuated from certain areas around the volcano and the hiking trails and roads had been closed as a precaution.

Categorized in:

Spain

Tagged in:

, ,