Minister calls devastating La Palma eruption a “wonderful show”
The Spanish Tourism Minister insisted that the island of La Palma was safe to visit after a terrifying volcanic eruption forced thousands to evacuate their homes.
“The island is open,” Reyes Maroto told the radio station Canal Sur, calling the eruption “a wonderful show.”
“There are no restrictions on going to the island,” she continued. “On the contrary, we’re passing on the information so tourists know they can travel to the island and enjoy something unusual, see it for themselves.”
The comments come hours after a group of 360 tourists had been evacuated to Tenerife from La Palma following a volcanic eruption on Sunday evening which spewed lava hundreds of meters into the air.
Around 5,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Canary Island after the lava flow, which is moving at 700 meters per hour, engulfed 20 houses in El Paso and sections of roads.
Teodoro Garcia Egea, secretary general of the opposition People’s Party, hit back at Maroto’s comments saying, “can someone confirm the minister said that while hundreds of people are losing everything they have?”
Some of La Palma’s 85,000 residents will remember the last time the volcano erupted, back in 1971.
Another 180 tourists could be evacuated from La Palma later today.
Read more: Volcano erupts on Canary Island of La Palma