La Palma volcano erupting through night

A volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma continued to erupt in the early hours of Thursday morning, shooting hot streams of lava into the air.

The eruption started on September 19 and has forced the evacuation of over 6,000 residents on the island in the Canary Islands archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa.

An expert said on Wednesday that the duration of the eruption was difficult to predict, but labelled it more intense than the eruptions of 1949 and 1971.

The volcano has destroyed more than 1,800 buildings, mostly homes, though prompt evacuations have helped avoid casualties on the island of some 85,000 people.

The island lives mainly from tourism and banana plantations and local industry has raised concerns about the impact of the eruption on residents' livelihoods.

IMAGE: AP