Residents and holidaymakers in Tenerife fear a volcano could erupt on the island after nearly 100 mini earthquakes were recorded in just a few hours.
There was a spike in seismic activity near Mount Tiede on Sunday afternoon, according to the Volcanology Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan).
A specialist team were sent to the island after 92 ‘microquakes’ were recorded, with one measuring 1.5 on the Richter scale.
The experts found that there was an “abnormal amount” of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and said it could be an indicator that an eruption is imminent.
Son ya 98 los sismos localizados en el enjambre sísmico del día de hoy en Tenerife pic.twitter.com/n0kGVPkODR
Involcan said in a statement: “We are registering an important seismic rally on the island of Tenerife.
“In principle, these earthquakes are very low magnitude, consistent with those that occur in active volcanoes.
“The number of earthquakes is provisional pending the analysis of the signals more closely, but we can qualify this activity as a seismic swarm whose pattern is an alignment with prevailing direction northeast to southwest “.
