Nearly 4000 people were evacuated on Monday (local time) from areas around Guatemala's Fuego volcano, which began violently erupting overnight, the country's disaster agency Conred said.
The volcano spewed out dangerous flows of fast-moving clouds of hot ash, lava and gas early Monday and more than 2000 people had taken refuge in shelters so far, officials from the agency told reporters. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
More dangerous flows of hot ash and lava could be expelled, said Juan Pablo Oliva, the head of the country's seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute Insivumeh.
In June, explosive flows from Fuego killed more than 190 people.
This is the fifth eruption so far this year of the 3763-metre volcano, one of the most active in Central America, about 130km south of Guatemala City.
