Lava from a volcano reaches the sea on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, in the early hours of Wednesday. (Saul Santos/The Associated Press)
Lava flows into the sea behind members of the coast guard, following the eruption of a volcano, in the Port of Tazacorte. (Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Smoke and lava rise from the crater after lava flowed into the sea, as seen from El Paso on Wednesday. (Jon Nazca/Reuters)
Lava is seen through the window of a kitchen from El Paso on Tuesday. (Jon Nazca/Reuters) La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa. The island is roughly 35 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide at its broadest point. Cleaning crews swept up ash in the island's capital of Santa Cruz, while more small earthquakes that have rumbled under the volcano for weeks were registered by geologists. The airport on La Palma, an important tourist destination along with its neighbouring islands, remained closed due to a huge ash cloud that Spain's National Geographic Institute said reached up to seven kilometres. However, Laura Garces, the director of Spain air navigation authority ENAIRE, said that she does not foresee any major problems for other airports on the archipelago or major air routes. Experts have said that it is impossible to determine how long the eruption will last. Previous eruptions in the archipelago have lasted weeks, even months.
