Canary Islands volcano spews lava into the air and its eruption intensifies

Canary Islands volcano spews lava into the air and its eruption intensifies (photos)

Rivers of lava flowed from inside the Cumbre Vieja volcano and erupted from its crater in the evening on the Spanish island of La Palma, and the authorities closed the airport with the intensity of the eruption, which entered its fiercest stages so far.

Since the eruption of the volcano began last Saturday, thousands of tons of lava have flowed from it, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing nearly six thousand people to flee.

Today, Saturday, the authorities said that about 160 people who were evacuated from three other towns on Friday will not be able to return to their homes to collect their belongings due to the "evolution of the volcano emergency."

Experts said the volcano has entered a new eruption phase.

"The volcano monitoring measurements that we have been taking since the beginning of the eruption recorded the highest energy activity so far on Friday afternoon," the emergency authority said in a statement on Friday evening.

Aina, which operates Spanish airports, said on Saturday it had closed the island's airport.

And the island of La Palma is one of the archipelago of the Canary Islands.

The eruption of the volcano has not yet resulted in serious injuries or deaths, but 15 percent of the island's economically important banana crop is threatened with damage, which in turn threatens thousands of jobs.