La Soufrière volcano is located on the largest island in the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines range, the country’s National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) said.
“Explosive eruption at La Soufrière,” tweeted NEMO. “Ash feathers up to 20,000 feet headed east,” he added.
“Please leave the red zone immediately. La Soufrière has erupted. The ash fall was recorded as far as Argyle International Airport,” he said.
The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, on Thursday declared a disaster alert caused by a change in eruptive activity at La Soufrière volcano, NEMO said.
The island was put on red alert, meaning an eruption was “imminent now,” NEMO said.
Evacuation orders were issued in about a dozen districts of St. Vincent, which affected approximately 6,000 to 7,000 people, a spokesman for the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center (UWI-SRC) told CNN. .