The moment of the eruption of the volcano "La Palma" in Spain.. Pictures

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A volcano on La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands, erupted on Sunday, sending a torrent of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from Cumbre Vieja National Park in the south of the island.

The islands government said authorities began evacuating people with mobility problems and some livestock from surrounding villages before the eruption at 3:15 local time (1415 GMT) on a tree-lined slope in the sparsely populated Cabeza de Vaca region.

Immediately after the eruption, the municipality urged residents in a statement to "exercise the utmost caution" and to stay away from the area and avoid driving on the roads.

The authorities asked residents of nearby villages to go to one of five evacuation centers and deployed soldiers to help.

In video footage, lava from the volcano was seen rising into the sky, and plumes of smoke could be seen from all over the island.

Stavros Mililides, professor of volcanology at the Spanish Geographical Institute, said the eruption created five vents in the hill and he could not say how long it would last.

Canary Islands President Angel Victor Torres told Spanish television that there were no reports of injuries so far.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Twitter that he had postponed his travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, to go to La Palma.

The National Geographic Institute said the previous eruption at La Palma was in 1430.

In 1971, a man was killed taking pictures near lava flows, but no property damage was caused.

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