Emergency officials in the Philippines have started to evacuate thousands of nearby residents as Mount Mayon began spewing flames and smoke at an accelerated rate Tuesday 15 December. Some 10,000 families from an 8km danger zone around the volcano are being moved into schools, as officials from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology upgraded the alert level to three, saying an explosion may be imminent. “Incandescent lava fragments were seen continuously detaching from the crater of Mayon Volcano (13.2576 N, 123.6856 E), which come to rest on the upper and middle slopes, about 3 kilometers from the summit”, the Institute said on its website.

The volcano has become increasingly active in the past two weeks. More than 30,000 people  were evacuated in 2006 as the the volcano was active for four months. In the deadliest eruption, 1,200 people were killed when Mayon erupted in 1814.

Links to other sites: ABC News,Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, The Times

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