Guatemalan authorities have issued the country’s second-highest emergency alert level after a major eruption of Central America’s most active volcano, prompting the evacuation of nearby villages.

Fuego’s eruption on Monday morning had intensified by nightfall, with lava flows and huge plumes of ash rising about six kilometres (four miles) into the air.

The alert level is one below the highest level of red, which indicates the most serious emergency.

Officials began evacuating two villages near the volcano on Monday, which is located 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the capital, Guatemala City.

Guatemala’s Institute of Volcanology warned in a statement that the volcano was “moving towards a more explosive phase”, with ash plumes rising to more than 6,000 metres (19,685 feet), and ashfall affecting nearby communities.

The agency also warned of hot volcanic debris flows down Fuego’s slopes, with communities on the western and southern flanks at the greatest risk.

Guatemala lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

More than 500 people were evacuated after another eruption of Fuego last year, while an eruption in 2023 forced around 1,200 people from their homes.

Fuego’s deadliest recent eruption occurred in 2018, when rivers of volcanic material swept down its slopes, killing 215 people, leaving a similar number missing and devastating a nearby village.