Volcanologist surveys volcanic destruction in Spain

Almost six weeks after a volcano erupted on the Spanish island of La Palma, vast amounts of ash and lava continue to cover buildings, cars and farmland on Friday.

Images from the exclusion zone near the volcano look apocalyptic after two days of intense activity.

According to emergency officials, some lava flows reached a height of 40 metres (more than 130 feet) after the strong magma overflows of the days before did not cause extremely large advances.

A video showed a football pitch in Las Manchas covered by ash and the collapsed roof of a building.

Valentin Troll, a professor of Volcanology and Petrology at Uppsala University who filmed the footage, said many of the buildings in the exclusion area near the volcano have suffered structural damage.

"You see the roof is fallen in under the weight of the ash," says Troll.

"Thankfully a little less ash in the air, the plume is less dark, so less ash is emitted right now and well, let's just hope this is a trend that will continue," he says as he looks at the volcano.

Flows of molten rock from the Cumbre Vieja volcano itself have caused the evacuations of about 7,500 people and destroyed more than 2,100 buildings, mostly homes.

The rivers of lava cover over 900 hectares (2,200 acres) of mostly farmland.

No deaths have resulted from the eruption. Other than in an area on the island's western side, life continues as normal for La Palma's 85,000 residents except for having to clean up volcanic ash.

IMAGE: AP