VOLCANO ERUPTS ON CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF SAINT VINCENT SPEWING COLUMN OF ASH

Fri 09 April 2021:

A volcano erupted Friday for the first time in 40 years on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, prompting thousands of people to evacuate, seismologists and other officials said.

The blast from La Soufriere, the highest peak in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sent plumes of ash 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) into the air, the local emergency management agency said.

“Please leave the red zone immediately. La Soufriere has erupted. Ash fall recorded as far as Argyle International Airport,” the National Emergency Management Organization said.

Satellite images and photos shared on social media images captured a thick column rising from the active volcano that began erupting at 8:41 a.m. Plumes of brown ash and smoke drifted higher as they moved northeast, reaching at least 38,500 feet into the atmosphere, nearing the altitude at which many commercial aircraft fly.

WATCH | #volcano Erupts On #Caribbean Island of #SaintVincent pic.twitter.com/e5xUQC7Hw2

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) April 9, 2021

The airport is in the southern part of the 18-mile long island while the volcano is in the north.

The eruption was confirmed by the seismological research center at the University of the West Indies.

On Thursday, authorities announced that La Soufrière was an “imminent” threat to erupt, ordering thousands to evacuate from a danger zone on the northern end of the Caribbean island.

Emergency management officials issued a red alert after scientists observed tremors on the island’s only active volcano that indicated a heightened risk of eruption as magma broke up rocks and moved near the surface.

La Soufriere had not erupted since 1979, and its largest blow-up happened over a century ago, killing more than 1,000 people in 1902.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves started issuing evacuation orders late Thursday for residents in so-called red zones, home to some 16,000 people on the biggest island in the archipelago.