Authorities on the Canary island of La Palma on Tuesday announced a closure of about 3,000 people, fearing potentially toxic fumes as a new lava flow from Cumbre Vieja reached sea waters.
The Volcanic Emergency Plan for the Canary Islands has ordered the closure of municipalities and hamlets on the coast, near the place where lava sank into the sea with a large column of white smoke, emergency services said on Twitter.
This is the third time that a lava flow has reached the sea since the eruption began on September 19. The Spanish airport company Aina said that due to fly ash, the airport of Santa Cruz, the island’s capital, closed its doors again on Monday. Regional airline Pinter Canarias canceled all flights to and from La Palma on Monday.
On Sunday, many tourists had to take a ferry to Tenerife, another Canary island, due to problems at the airport.
Authorities have asked La Palma residents, for the first time since the volcanic eruption, to wear an FFP2 mask, to protect themselves from sulfur dioxide fumes. Experts have not yet been able to say when the eruption will end.
The explosion destroyed nearly 1,500 buildings, including 1,100 homes, according to the Land Registry. According to the latest data from the European Copernicus Earth Observation System, the lava covered 1,065 hectares.
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