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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Lottie Gibbons

Foreign Office issues new warning for Brits travelling to Spain

The Foreign Office has issued urgent advice for Brits travelling to Spain.

Several small earthquakes have shaken the Spanish island of La Palma, keeping nerves on edge as rivers of lava continued to flow towards the sea and a new volcano vent blew open.

The new vent is 3,000 feet north of the Cumbre Vieja ridge, where the volcano first erupted on Sunday after a week of thousands of small earthquakes.

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That so-called earthquake swarm gave authorities on the island off the African coast a warning that an eruption was likely and allowed more than 5,000 people to be evacuated, avoiding casualties.

Issuing new travel advice, the Foreign Office said: "On Sunday 19 September 2021, at approximately 15.15 local time, there was a volcanic eruption on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma.

"The immediate areas of Los Llanos de Aridane, Tazacorte and El Paso (including Cabeza de Vaca) have been evacuated.

"If you are in an affected area you should follow the advice of local authorities, including social media updates from Cabildo de La Palma.

"If you are planning to travel to the island imminently you are encouraged to contact your tour operators/airlines."

La Palma, with a population of some 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands.

After moving downhill across the island's countryside since Sunday's eruption, the lava is gradually closing in on the more densely populated coastline.

Officials said a river of lava was bearing down on Todoque, where more than 1,000 people live and where emergency services were preparing evacuations.

About 6,000 people on La Palma have been evacuated so far and 183 houses damaged, government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said after a Cabinet meeting in Madrid.

The new vent is 900 meters (3,000 feet) north of the Cumbre Vieja ridge, where the volcano first erupted after a week of thousands of small earthquakes.

Lava by Tuesday had covered about 260 acres of terrain and destroyed 166 houses and other buildings, according to the European Union's Earth Observation Programme, called Copernicus.

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