After decades of calm, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma has erupted again. Fiery lava flows push towards the coast – thousands are evacuated.
Madrid / La Palma – For the first time in 50 years, a volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday.
Smoke, ashes, stones
From 3:12 p.m. local time (4:12 p.m. CEST), violent explosions shook the area of the Cumbre Vieja in the south of the small island, which is located in the north-west of the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain. Smoke, ashes and stones were hurled into the sky. Later, spectacular images of fire fountains hundreds of meters high shot into the night sky were shown on television.
By late evening, at least seven chimneys were counted, i.e. different places where volcanic material emerged, reported the state television broadcaster RTVE. The volcano does not yet have its own name, the Spanish media only mention “the volcano”. The authorities called a red alert on a volcano emergency plan and began evacuations. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez canceled a planned trip to the USA and arrived on La Palma in the evening.
5000 evacuated
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. At first it was not known whether there were Germans among them.
1000 degrees hot lava
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.
Spanish military activated
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.
Pack only the bare essentials
The outbreak had been announced in the past few days by around 6,600 small and medium-sized earthquakes and a slight rise in the ground. 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.
The last time there was a volcanic eruption on the youngest of the Canary Islands was 50 years ago when the Teneguía hurled lava into the air in 1971. Mass tourism like on Tenerife and the better known islands Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife does not exist on La Palma. dpa
