Soufrière, Saint Lucia

The volcano La Soufrière has erupted on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. An explosive eruption was registered on the mountain in the north of the island, the disaster control authority Nemo announced on Friday. A column of smoke up to eight kilometers high was building up over the volcano. A shower of ash is to be expected, it said. Subterranean tremors had previously been detected at the volcano, indicating that magma was moving towards the earth's surface.

The government of the island state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines had already begun evacuating the so-called Red Zone around the volcano on Thursday. In 1902, an eruption of La Soufrière killed about 1,500 people. The current volcanic activity began last December, according to Nemo.