Authorities in Guatemala have declared a red alert and evacuated around 4,000 people after the country's Fuego volcano erupted for the fifth time this year, sending bursts of ash and lava down the mountain.
A spokesman for Guatemala's disaster management agency Conred said it decided to evacuate the municipality of Escuintla and two other districts.
Some 4,000 people were taken to temporary shelters as a precaution.
Dozens of residents are being sheltered in tents at a sports stadium in Escuintla.
Memories are still fresh of the volcano's eruption in June which swept away villages and left nearly 200 people dead and over 235 missing.
The volcano last erupted in early November without causing damage but experts have become increasingly concerned about renewed activity inside the volcano since Sunday.
Conred spokesman David de Leon said the eruption became increasingly violent after it began Sunday morning, leading to fears for the safety of the thousands of people who live on the slopes of the mountain.
A column of ash rose around 1km above the crater, and areas west of the volcano – 35km from Guatemala City - were under a barrage of gas ash and fiery rocks, Conred said.
The state's institute of volcanology said it was concerned the ash particles from the volcano could reach the colonial tourist city of Antigua Guatemala.
The institute's director Pablo Oliva said the volcano was expected to remain "at a high to very high level" of activity, but was unable to say when it would subside.
A red alert has been declared in Guatemala after the Fuego volcano, also known as the Volcano of Fire, started erupting for the fifth time this year pic.twitter.com/GFYcFtgc1k
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 19, 2018
A previous eruption on 12 October was characterised by increasingly loud booms and lava flow.
On that occasion, 62 people were evacuated from their homes as a precaution and a highway around the mountain was closed.
Many of those evacuated today said they had feared a repeat of the deadly June eruption.
Activity inside Guatemala's two other volcanoes, Pacaya and Santiaguito, has increased in recent months but they have not entered the eruptive phase.
