After days of increased seismic activity, the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday, spewing lava, ash, and a massive column of smoke, prompting evacuations of those living nearby, authorities said.
Cumbre Vieja straddles a mountain in the south of La Palma island, home to about 80,000 people, and last erupted 50 years ago.
"The eruption started in the Cabeza de Vaca zone, in El Paso," the local administration stated on Twitter, adding that more than 1,000 people had been evacuated from the volcano's nearest locations.
In a dozen regions that had been placed on high alert, the evacuation was mandatory, and temporary shelters had been set up.
"People are asked to be extremely careful and to stay away from the eruption zone to avoid needless risk," the local authority stated.
Angel Victor Torres, the head of the Canaries region, described the area as forested and "sparsely populated," adding that no casualties had been reported so far.
According to local government predictions, lava flows from the volcano in the island's center were expected to proceed southwest, towards inhabited and wooded areas, before reaching the coast.
During the late afternoon, state television broadcast live coverage of the eruption.
Pedro Sanchez, Spain's prime minister, said he will go to the location later Sunday "to follow developments."
"Given the situation on the island of La Palma," a statement said, "the head of government has postponed his scheduled departure today for New York," to attend the United Nations, General Assembly.
Sanchez remarked on Twitter, "All the services are prepared to act in a coordinated fashion,"
According to airport operator Aena, flights to and from the island had not been disrupted as of 1830 GMT.
The interior ministry said 200 security personnel had been dispatched, with a helicopter on standby.
Thousands of tremors
After noticing an increase in seismic activity and magma displacements, experts had been keeping a close eye on the volcano.
The Inolcan volcanology institution reported an earthquake swarm under La Cumbre Vieja began a week ago and has since produced hundreds of tremors, the biggest of which had a magnitude of nearly four.
An earthquake swarm is a series of seismic events that occur in the exact location over a short period.
On Tuesday, the authorities upped the warning level in certain areas near the volcano from green to yellow, the second of four levels, requiring civil protection personnel to warn the public "to take precautions ahead of a possible volcanic eruption" as part of an emergency plan.
Involcan had previously recorded "significant ground deformation" due to "a small volume" of fresh magma flowing into the volcano's reservoir, which totaled 11 million cubic meters.
"Undoubtedly the current seismic swarm represents a significant change in the activity of the Cumbre Vieja volcano and is related to a process of magmatic intrusion beneath the island of La Palma," it stated.
The Canaries, a seven-island archipelago off the coast of northwest Africa, last had a volcanic eruption in 2011, underwater off the coast of El Hierro Island.
In the twentieth century, Cumbre Vieja erupted twice: in 1971 and 1949.
