Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

Sunday's eruption on La Palma sent jets of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja National Park. La Palma is the fifth-largest of Spain's Canary Islands, which sit in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Morocco.

Huge red plumes topped with black-and-white smoke shot out along a volcanic ridge that scientists had been closely watching after heightened seismic activity on La Palma for days.

A volcanologist told Spanish TV shortly after the eruption that there appeared to be five fissures in the volcano and at least two of them were spewing hot lava.

More than 1,000 people whose homes are located close to the eruption zone were evacuated. Authorities asked the public to pack a small bag, their cellphone and identity documents in case they needed to leave at short notice.

Scientists counted 22,000 tremors in the space of a week around Cumbre Vieja, ahead of the eruption. The team from the Geological Mining Institute of Spain used drones to monitor seismic activity.

Cumbre Vieja is a mountain range and a chain of volcanoes that last had a major eruption in 1971, when one man was killed as he took photographs near the lava flows.

La Palma has several volcanic craters, including San Antonio (pictured) but only Cumbre Vieja is active. The volcano has erupted eight times since Spanish records began in the 15th century. Along with Tenerife, La Palma is the most volcanically active of the Canary Islands.

A satellite image of La Palma shows the huge Caldera de Taburiente crater to the north. The Cumbre Vieja mountain range can be seen in the south and is where all recorded volcanic eruptions have occurred. La Palma is home to 83,000 people and, unlike the other Canary Islands, is not one of the popular tourist destinations.