Authorities in the Philippines evacuated thousands of people from the south of Manila on Sunday after the Mayon volcano erupted.

They cautioned people to stay out of the danger zone, designated as an area within a 6km radius of the volcano, saying it could be impacted by landslides and lava flows.

Not long before the eruption, officials at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, also known as Phivolcs, had reported visible signs of intensified and magmatic unrest, with lava flows and volcanic earthquakes.

A thick blanket of ashfall engulfed several towns in the central province of Albay, disrupting traffic and daily life.

Mayon is the most active of the 22 volcanoes in the Philippines. It has erupted nearly 50 times over the last four centuries. The last magmatic eruption in June 2023 spewed large volumes of lava and noxious gases.

The most destructive eruption of Mayon came in February 1841 when lava flows buried an entire town and killed 1,200 people.

In January, authorities raised the alert level for Mayon to 3 on the five-step warning system after the volcano showed signs of eruption.

The same level-3 alert was issued on Sunday after Phivolcs found “strombolian activity and short-lived lava fountaining” on Mayon.

In the aftermath of the eruption, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said nearly 1,500 families had been relocated to evacuation centres, adding that about 300,000 food and non-food items had been prepared for the affected people.

The Civil Aviation Authority issued a flight safety advisory alerting airlines of airspace restrictions above Manila.

The regulator said that it was rolling out the precautionary measure in view of potential hazards posed by volcanic ash, airborne particles and sudden volcanic activity, which could interfere with the engines and navigation systems of aircraft, compromising flight safety.

The Philippines lies on the "Ring of Fire", a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is also prone to earthquakes.