Volcano erupts in Chile, dozens evacuated

'Llaima' spews lava, ash and three-kilometer smoke column

	The Llaima volcano spews smoke and lava, some 528 miles south of Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday. The volcano erupted earlier in the day, sending up a huge plume of smoke and coating the surrounding wilderness park with ash.
Jose Luis Saavedra / Reuters

Americas video

MORE VIDEO

In Peru, melting glaciers lead to water wars
Dec. 8: Perfect Storm: Unless the nation of Peru takes immediate action, the ancient Andean glaciers could disappear by 2022--taking with them the runoff that provides 80 percent of the freshwater for the country’s most populous areas. NBC’s Anne Thompson reports.

World's largest ice rink

Mexico lights world's largest artificial tree

Video

An intimate look inside Rio's favelas
Oct. 4: With a beauty few cities in the world can match, Rio de Janeiro has always been a natural draw for tourists. But as NBC's Karl Bostic reports, more visitors are looking for the Rio hidden inside these slums.

Nightly News

NBC World Blog

NBC News correspondents and producers around the globe share their insight on news events.

Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day)
Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622).

Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com

Most popular

• Most viewed

• Top rated

Rising 2009 market could haunt investors in '10

Most viewed on msnbc.com

updated 2:37 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2008

SANTIAGO, Chile - A volcano in southern Chile erupted on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash, and forcing the evacuation of about 150 people, officials said.

Authorities declared an "early alert" around the Llaima volcano, readying police and firefighters in case further evacuations were needed, Chile's Emergency Bureau said in a communique.

A column of smoke rose more than three kilometers (9,300 feet) into the sky and television images showed thick smoke and lava emerging from Llaima, one of the most active of the dozens of volcanos in Chile.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Emergency bureau director Carmen Fernandez said 150 tourists and National Forest Service employees were evacuated from the Conguillio National Park where the volcano is located, some 650 kilometers (400 miles) south of Santiago.

If necessary, residents would also be evacuated from Melipeuco, a town of at least 5,000 located 12 kilometers (8 miles) from the volcano, officials said.

Bureau officials and vulcanologists were flying over the volcano to monitor the situation.

The 3,120-meter (9,400 feet) volcano last erupted in May, but has not suffered a major blast since 1994.