A vulcanologist says he saw lava bombs thrown high in to the air during an observation flight over an erupting volcano in Vanuatu.
The Pacific nation's government has ordered a mass evacuation of the island of Ambae, after about a week of escalating volcanic observations of Monaro Voui.
A state of emergency was declared on 26 September.
All 11,000 residents of Ambae ‑ 5% of Vanuatu's population ‑ have been told to evacuate the island. Initially, islanders moved to shelters on Ambae but the government then ordered a mandatory island‑wide evacuation.
The volcanic alert at the crater is at level four and warnings include gas, acid rain and ash, and lava bombs. Access to clean drinking water has been compromised by the acidic ash fall.
A fleet of private boats, canoes, and commercial vessels will start to ferry thousands of people to other islands today. The evacuation is expected to take days.
Source: RadioNZ
