QUITO, Saturday 29 May 2010 -- Thousands of residents of Ecaudor’s largest and most populated city Guayaquil have been ordered to be evacuated yesterday following a volcanic eruption.

The Ecuadorian authorities have also closed the airport in the South American country.

Bernama quoted China's Xinhua news agency as reporting that earlier, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DAC) has halted the domestic flight between Quito and Cuenca, and the international flight between Lima and Quito due to the ash emission of the Tungurahua Volcano.

The DCA said in a statement that the airports were closed for operational security, but there are alternative routes for the planes to take off or land without problem.

According to Ecuador's National Geophysics Institute, ash plumes soared 10km above the volcano.

The Secretariat of Risk Management (SNGR) had on Friday ordered the evacuation of thousands of people living at the foot of the Tungurahua Volcano in central Ecuador, which earlier registered a new eruption and ash emission.

The SNGR said in a statement that the people living in towns in the vicinity of the volcano, including Juive Grande, Cusua, Cotalo, Bilbao, and Chacauco on the west side of the volcano, were evacuated.

The area near the volcano is cloudy due to the ash columns and the lava coming from the Tungurahua Volcano.

The eruption took place at 8:47am local time (1347 GMT) Friday and was considered "complicated."

Rescue teams went to the affected areas immediately after the SNGR issued an alert at 9:30am local time (1430 GMT).

According to National Geophysics Institute director Hugo Yepez, the ash cloud is heading southwest, so the ash cloud could also affect the coastal zones in the north of Guayaquil.

The Tungurahua Volcano is of 5,016 meters above sea level and located 135km south to Quito. It began its eruptive process in 1999.