Amazing pictures of Chilean Volcano

Raining ash: The plume above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain threw ash up to six miles into the sky

Engulfed in ash: A policeman walks between rocks and ash near the volcano site in southern Chile
Authorities in Chile went house to house, trying to persuade stragglers near the volcano to evacuate because of an increasing danger of toxic gas and flash floods.

Winds fanned the ash toward neighbouring Argentina, darkening the sky in the ski resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche, in the centre of the country, and its airport has also been closed.

The eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain, about 575 miles south of the capital, Santiago, also prompted authorities to close a busy border crossing into Argentina.

 

Massive: An example of a pumice rock from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain volcano is displayed
Local media said the smell of sulphur hung in the air and there was constant seismic activity.
'The Cordon Caulle (volcanic range) has entered an eruptive process, with an explosion resulting in a 10-kilometre-high gas column,' the state emergency office ONEMI said.

Spectacular: A time-lapse photo shows lightning bolts striking around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain

An extraordinary cloud formation is created by the ash rising several miles into the atmosphere.  It was the latest in a series of volcanic eruptions in Chile in recent years.  Chile's Chaiten volcano erupted spectacularly in 2008 for the first time in thousands of years, spewing molten rock and a vast cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere.The ash also swelled a nearby river and ravaged a nearby town of the same name.The ash cloud from Chaiten coated towns in Argentina and was visible from space.  Chile's Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, erupted in 2008 and 2009. 

Above cloud level the plume looks like a nuclear bomb has just exploded with its mushroom cloud bursting towards the skies. 

Caught in the sunlight: Beautiful but deadly, the cloud turns fiery red in the sunshine as the eruption continues to belch ash skyward.