By Simon Tomlinson for MailOnline. Chilean volcano Calbuco has erupted for the third time in eight days, sending a new cloud of ash and gas high into the sky and forcing thousands of people to flee the area once again.
Calbuco spewed more than million tonnes of ash last week, coating nearby towns, wrecking parts of the salmon industry and forcing the cancellation of flights as far as Buenos Aires miles away.
The volcano has been quiet this week, but geological officials had warned it was still unstable and could erupt again. Scroll down for video. There she blows Force of nature: Pictures showed a thick, grey plume spreading quickly into the sky, heading south-east over the Andes into Argentina. Calbuco, one of the most active along a chain of around 2, in Chile, is in the scenic Los Lagos region, a popular tourist destination around 1,km miles south of the capital, Santiago.
The new eruption began at 1. TV pictures showed a thick, grey plume spreading quickly into the sky on Thursday afternoon. It was heading south-east over the Andes into Argentina, said government meteorologist Arnaldo Zuniga. The Calbuco Volcano erupts for the third time in eight days on April 30, in Los Lagos, Chile, prompting evacuations of nearby residents. A general view of Calbuco volcano spewing ash and smoke near Puerto Varas, which already erupted twice last week.
A sculpture is seen next to a soldier at Ensenada town, which is covered in ash from Calbuco volcano, in Puerto Varas, Chile. A 20km mile exclusion zone has remained in place around the volcano since the first sudden eruption on April But some residents have been making short visits to their homes to begin clearing away thick layers of ash and debris. About 1, more people had been evacuated yesterday, interior minister Mahmud Aleuy said. He said there were indications that the eruption was not as powerful as those of last week, when ash and gas reached 17 km We are talking about a column of ash no higher than four kilometers,' said Aleuy.
