Earthquakes shook the ground beneath the brewing Montserrat volcano yesterday as Britain said it would evacuate residents who wanted to leave the stricken Caribbean island. A British warship was standing by yesterday.
Scientists monitoring the Soufriere Hills volcano in the island's south said the tremors could build to a new eruption and a huge explosion could not be ruled out.
Britain said the island's volcano had become more dangerous and a voluntary partial evacuation of the 4,000 to 5,000 remaining residents was being organised.
Officials from the Foreign Office and the Overseas Development Office held talks on the worsening situation and the British warship, HMS Liverpool, was ready to take anyone who wanted to leave the British colony.
"With all the smoke and ash from the volcano, it's impossible to fly," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
He said a ferry service to neighbouring islands such as Antigua and Guadeloupe was another option for those wishing to leave Montserrat, which is in the Leeward Islands chain at the north-eastern end of the Caribbean.
Montserrat's volcano, ere Hills located not far from the capital, Plymouth, started spewing ash and rock in July 1995, having been dormant for some 400 years. But the situation deteriorated over the weekend.
Britain's International Development Minister, Mr George Foulkes, said earlier that the possibility of a "massive, cataclysmic-intensive eruption" of the volcano could no longer be ruled out.
"Over the past 24 hours the volcano has become much more dangerous. As a result, we have agreed to this voluntary partial evacuation of anyone who wants to leave in the wake of this information."
Mr Foulkes said experts at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory had warned him the consequences of such an event could be extreme and anywhere on the island could be significantly threatened. Talks were under way with the island's governor, Mr Frank Savage.
The evacuation plan would take effect immediately and people could leave at once, he added.
The island's population is down to less than half the 11,000 living there before the volcano became active again.
At the weekend, scientific advice prompted the authorities to order the evacuation of the central area of the island, where some people had fled after Plymouth was hit by a series of eruptions two weeks ago.
Islanders will be able to choose if and where they want to go. "Not everyone wants to go to the UK. Some have gone to the US, where there is a big Montserrat community and others may want to go to neighbouring islands on a temporary basis," the Foreign Office spokesman said.
PA adds: Britain's Liberal Democrats said the government risked making a mockery of its humanitarian policies unless it took swift action over the crisis. They wrote a strongly-worded letter to Mr Foulkes attacking the current aid operation.
Ms Jenny Tonge, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on international development, condemned inadequate living accommodation, raw sewage dumped in the sea and scanty health provision on the tiny British dependency.
"Why has the government not been monitoring the aid programme to ensure it was effective?" she asked.
And she voiced concerns about the fate of the remaining 5,000 islanders if a full evacuation is enforced. "The Liberal Democrats urge you to recognise our responsibility to the British subjects of Montserrat and to offer anyone who should want it immediate assisted passage to this country."