La Palma eruption: more people evacuated amid toxic gas fears

Five hundred more people have been forced to flee their homes on the Canary island of La Palma as a continuing volcanic eruption pushed streams of lava towards inhabited coastal areas and raised fears over the formation of clouds of toxic gas.

The eruption, which began on Sunday afternoon on the Cumbre Vieja ridge, one of the most active volcanic regions in the archipelago, has destroyed at least 183 homes and led to the evacuation of about 6,000 people to date.

A new vent, about 900 metres north of the ridge, opened late on Monday after what the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said was a 3.8-magnitude quake, one of the thousands of tremors that have shaken the island over the past fortnight, heralding the eruption.

No deaths or injuries have been reported, but drone footage captured two tongues of black lava cutting a swath through the landscape as they advanced down the volcano’s western flank towards the sea. Experts say that if and when the lava reaches the sea, it could trigger more explosions and clouds of toxic gases. Marine authorities have closed off a two-nautical-mile stretch in the sea around the area as a precaution “to prevent the gases from affecting people”, said Mariano Hernández, the chief of the island’s council.

The lava flow had been expected to reach the shore on Monday evening, but its speed has fallen in recent hours. Despite the slowdown, Hernández said the authorities were concerned by the lava’s progress towards inhabited areas.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, paid tribute to the “extraordinary work of the emergency workers” on La Palma. But he warned against complacency. “People need to stay away from the magma and the volcano, and keep the roads as clear as possible,” said Sánchez.

Such warnings were not being universally heeded. Roads were clogged as many residents flocked to catch a glimpse of the eruption – and Spain’s tourism minister even suggested on Monday that it could be a tourist attraction. “This is no joke,” Pedro José Alegría, a farmer, told the Associated Press as he returned to La Laguna, a neighbourhood bordering an evacuated area, to feed his donkey.