Red-hot lava spews from volcano on La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands

A vehicle with loudspeakers to warn neighbours of an emergency is photographed in El Paso, on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain, September 19, 2021. REUTERS/Borja Suarez

LA PALMA, Spain (Reuters) -A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday, sending jets of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island.

Authorities had begun evacuating the infirm and some farm animals from surrounding villages before the eruption at 3:15 p.m. (1415 GMT) on a wooded slope in the sparsely populated Cabeza de Vaca area, according to the islands' government.