The volcano incessantly haunts ash, smoke and lava. And there is no end in sight. Toxic fumes are now threatening the population.
Santa Cruz de La Palma – On the volcanic island of La Palma, a curfew has been imposed for several localities in view of the approaching lava.
The state TV broadcaster RTVE reported that when the lava, which is around 1000 degrees Celsius, came into contact with the salty sea water, toxic fumes could form. The day before, the lava had moved faster again towards the west coast of the island, passed the village of Todoque and destroyed the church of San Pio X in the process.
On Monday morning, the lava was about 1.6 kilometers from the sea, as RTVE further reported. In the localities of San Borondón, Marina Alta, Marina Baja and La Condesa, people were not allowed to leave their homes and should keep windows and doors closed. Further evacuations are initially not necessary as the people from the area threatened by the lava have already been brought to safety.
For more than a week, the volcano in the Cumbre Vieja on the Canary Island of La Palma, which belongs to Spain, has been spitting out ash, smoke, rocks and lava – the damage is immense, and the volcanologists cannot predict an end.
The island’s airport in the northwest of the Canary Islands has meanwhile been released again, according to the operating company Aena. The runway could be cleared of volcanic ash, the company wrote on Twitter.
Thread (1/3):
📢The #LaPalma #airport recovers its operations. After progress in the ash cleaning work, it can now be operated with prior approval of the flight plan by @enaire.
✋The priority is to ensure safety. # SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/cHCe2aK7VA
– Aena (@aena) September 26, 2021
However, the airport was apparently not served initially. Live flight trackers, which show all reported flights in real time on the Internet, initially recorded no flight operations for La Palma. On the Aena website, all planned flights to and from La Palma were also shown as canceled on Monday. dpa
