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Airport closed as La Palma volcano eruption intensifies

Europe Materials 26 September 2021 10:03 (UTC +04:00)
Airport closed as La Palma volcano eruption intensifies

Volcanic explosions spewed red hot lava high into the air on La Palma on Saturday as a new emission vent opened, forcing the small Spanish island to close its airport and causing long queues for boats off the island, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano, which began erupting last Sunday, is entering a new explosive phase. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, Involcan, said the new emission vent that had opened was to the west of the principle vent.

The national Geographical and Mining Institute said its drones had shown the volcano's cone had broken.

"It is not unusual in this type of eruption that the cone of the volcano fractures. A crater is formed that does not support its own weight and ... the cone breaks," Miguel Angel Morcuende, director of volcano response committee Pevolca, told a news conference on Saturday. "This partial rupture happened overnight."

Morcuende said the evacuations currently in place would be maintained for another 24 hours as a precaution.

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