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By Vasco Cotovio, Martin Goillandeau and Jeevan Ravindran, CNN
The Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, erupted on Sunday after several earthquakes were felt over the weekend.
The Canary Islands Institute of Volcanology (Involcan) tweeted the news of the eruption at 3:24 p.m. local time (10:24 a.m. ET) and urged members of the public to stay away from the area.
In a video posted on Twitter by the institute, a large plume of smoke appears from afar.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has postponed his departure to New York for the UN General Assembly to travel to La Palma due to the volcanic eruption.
“I am currently heading towards the Canary Islands due to the seismic evolution, to see firsthand the situation in La Palma, the coordination of the means and the protocols which have been activated”, tweeted Sunday Sánchez.
Local government chief Angel Torres called the first images of the eruption “impressive”.
Torres tweeted that he would be on the Steering Committee for Civil Protection and Attention to Volcanic Hazard Emergencies to assess the situation in the afternoon.
The island was on alert for a possible volcanic eruption after several earthquakes were felt over the weekend.
Earlier today, the Institute of Volcanology wrote in a statement on Facebook that more than 25,000 earthquakes had been detected in the past nine days around the Cumbre Vieja volcano.
The highest recorded magnitude was an earthquake 4.2 on the Richter scale on Sunday.
People with disabilities had already been evacuated from some areas around the volcano and hiking trails and trails had been closed as a precaution.
“We call on people to exercise extreme caution and stay away from the eruption area to avoid unnecessary risk,” the local government tweeted on Sunday. “Likewise, it is very important to keep the roads clear so that they can be used by our ground agents. “
The-CNN-Wire
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