Lava from La Palma volcano is accelerating its progress towards the sea and they fear this could cause explosions and toxic gases

Lava spewed out by an erupting volcano in the Spanish Canary Islands archipelago has accelerated its progress towards the sea and is about 800 meters from the coastauthorities said on Tuesday.

One of the two rivers slowed down, but the other was warmer, more fluid and headed towards the small town of Tazacorte, where the population has been deported, the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Response Service said.

Authorities have been waiting for days for lava from La Palma volcano to reach the Atlantic Ocean, but the rash was irregular. After a brief hiatus on Monday, the volcano resumed its explosions with more intensity during the night.

When the laundry reaches the sea, it can cause explosions and release toxic gasesAlthough authorities have said that due to its slow progress, they do not expect major problems on the coast.

Even like that, the lava emission is much higher than that emitted last week, but above all much more fluid.

Right now there are two active mouths: one in the main cone of the volcano and another below, which emits lava at high temperature and very fluid, which could reach the sea above the two previous flows.

According to Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan), the lava of this new, more fluid river is of the Hawaiian type.

The laundry met the obstacle of the Todoque Mountain and he began to pass it on one of its sides, while the previous flows have almost stopped.

According to updated information from Spanish Department of National Security (DSN), the extension of the surface affected by the advance of the lava continues to increase and moves in two flows: that of the South, which maintains a low speed; and that of the North, more active, It is located in the mountainous region of Todoque, between 800 and 1000 meters from the coast.

Faced with this development and as a preventive measure, the territories of four communes of San Borondon, Marina Alta, Marina Baja and The Countess.

For now, according to this source, the eruption of the volcano does not negatively influence the quality of the air.

In areas affected by intense ash fall, it is recommended to stay indoors, a measure that meets the recommendation to maintain an exclusion radius of 2.5 km around emission centers in order to minimize the risks of pyroclastic impact and exposure to gases.

The airport of the Spanish island is operational, although no company operated any flights during the day yesterday.

La Palma, which has about 85,000 inhabitants, is part of the chain of volcanic islands of Canary Islands, located in northwestern Africa. The island is only 35 kilometers long and 20 km at its widest point.

Lava from the eruption, which began on September 19, has destroyed 589 buildings and 21 km of roads on the island, and covers 258 hectares, mostly agricultural land, according to the European Union’s satellite monitoring agency.

Thanks to early evacuations no fatalities or serious injuries were reported.

For the time being the volcano spat out more than 46 million cubic meters of molten rock, according to the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute.

The two previous eruptions on La Palma occurred in 1949 and 1971, causing the death of three people in total, two of them by gas inhalation.

(With information from AP, EFE and AFP)

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