Six new vents rip open on erupting Canary Islands volcano sending lava towards unspoiled land

Six new vents have torn open on the erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma.

New rivers of molten lava have emerged from the vents on the Cumbre Vieja volcano that has been erupting since September 19.

These new vents are expanding the lava flow and could threaten to widen the damage to evacuated land, roads and homes.

According to María José Blanco, a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Geographic Institute, the lava spewing from the new vents is flowing at 20 feet per minute towards as-yet unspoiled land.

Over the last ten weeks, 11 different lava flows have been identified by experts – covering around 2,700 acres of land.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt, expelling lava and ash as seen from Tajuya, on the Canary Island of La Palma — Six new lava vents have opened up on La Palma’s continuing volcanic eruption (Reuters)

A general view of the Cumbre Vieja volcano that continues to erupt expelling lava and ash as seen from Tajuya, on the Canary Island of La Palma — Since the eruption started, 11 deparate lava flows have been recorded by scientists (Reuters)

The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt as seen from El Time viewpoint — The Cumbre Vieja volcano has been erupting since September (Reuters)

Homes, infrastructure and the island’s economically important banana plantations have been destroyed.

As a result, the Spanish government has pledged 225 million euros (£192 million) in aid to help residents of the island.

Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s prime minister, said financial assistance for housing would be tax-exempt and that taxes on air travel to and from the island, part of the Canaries archipelo off northwest Africa, would be subsidised for a year.

Thankfully, nobody has been killed by the natural disaster as affected residents were evacuated from their homes.