LIVE VIDEO: Volcano erupts on La Palma in the Canary Islands (TV Canarias Youtube channel)
(CNN)The Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, erupted Sunday, after several earthquakes were felt over the weekend.
The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute (Involcan) tweeted 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 is seen emerging from afar.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has postponed his departure to New York for the UN General Assembly in order to travel to La Palma because of the volcanic eruption.
“I am at the moment heading to the Canary Islands because of the seismic evolution, to see first-hand the situation in La Palma, the coordination of the means and the protocols that have been activated,” Sánchez tweeted Sunday.
The head of the local government Angel Torres called the first images of the eruption “impressive.”
