Spanish King Visits Evacuees On La Palma Island Amid Volcanic Eruption

(@FahadShabbir)

Spanish King Visits Evacuees on La Palma Island Amid Volcanic Eruption

EL FUERTE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2021) King of Spain Felipe VI and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived on the Canary island of La Palma, where the volcanic eruption continues, Sputnik correspondent reports.

The king and his wife, as well as the prime minister, who had just returned from New York, and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska headed for the military headquarters and barracks in El Fuerte, where some of the evacuees are being hosted.

Forty of the initially 400 evacuated to El Fuerte remain there, a representative of the Red Cross told Sputnik. These are mostly individuals with disabilities who were taken out even before the eruption began, but there are also those who suffered as a result of the natural disaster.

Most of the 6,000 islanders who found themselves directly in the area of the catastrophe were sheltered by relatives and friends. They are also being accommodated in hotels, houses and apartments that had previously been rented to tourists.

On Sunday, the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on La Palma. The eruption has destroyed 320 buildings and 154 hectares of land. According to the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, the volcanic eruption is likely to last from 24 to 84 days.