MANILA: Thousands more have fled an erupting volcano in the Philippines, relief workers said on Wednesday, as foreign tourists arrived to watch the flaming lava and giant cauliflower clouds spurting from its crater.

For the third consecutive day on Wednesday, Mayon Volcano in Albay province in the Bicol Region continued to spew fountains of red-hot lava and massive ash plumes which experts said were an indication it was on the verge of a major destructive eruption..

This developed as officials denounced the communist New People’s Army (NPA) for the ambush and wounding of a soldier who was aboard a truck with several others while on their way to help evacuate residents in the town of Guinobatan, Albay on Monday.

More than 56,000 residents are now crammed in schools and other buildings two weeks after Mayon volcano began showing signs of unrest.

Volcanologists on Monday warned of a hazardous eruption within days and a no-go zone was extended from six kilometres of the crater to nine kilometres, forcing local officials to order further evacuations as ash rained down on communities.

At the shelters, people sleep on the floor and each shares a single toilet with 49 other people, the Philippine Red Cross said.

“Their numbers ballooned after the danger zone was expanded,” Rose Rivero, Red Cross administrator for the region, told AFP.

Mostly farmers and their families, the evacuees are surviving on food handouts from the government and charities, with the Red Cross pitching in with drinking water, counselling, and hygiene items, she added.

“If we go back to its (Mayon’s) history of eruption, it would take three to four months before we could send them back to their homes,” Rivero said.

The state volcanologist office said there was little chance of that happening soon.

The eruption is also drawing curious American, European and South Korean tourists, local hoteliers said.

“They are attracted by Mayon’s activity. They want to have a closer look,” Nics Ortonio, a receptionist at the packed four-star Oriental Hotel in Legazpi told AFP.

Guests rush out of their 5,600-peso ($110) per day rooms to watch Mayon’s periodic outbursts in safety from the hotel’s terrace restaurant along with local diners, she added.

“This is good for business, but as a resident I am also affected,” said Ortonio, 22, who said she and her parents were staying put for now at their home.

Meanwhile, Dr Renato Solidum, the chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said they found episodes of “intense but sporadic lava fountaining from the summit crater lasting from seven minutes to one hour and 20 minutes” from Monday morning to Wednesday.

Such signs of Mayon’s “tantrums” were similar to what transpired during its explosive eruption in 2000 and 2001, Solidum told GMA News in an interview.

“What we are seeing now are (signs) similar during the 2000 and 2001 eruption. These ended with an explosive eruption,” Solidum said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Phivolcs raised the Alert Level on the volcano from 3 to 4 on Monday when it spewed ash plumes as high as 10 kilometres which blanked the town of Guinobatan and neighboring areas located at the southern flank of Mayon.

With the alert level up, officials expanded the permanent danger zone from six to nine kilometres and ordered the evacuation of residents which soared to about 56,000 in 46 temporary shelters on Wednesday.

Marring the renewed evacuation was the wounding of a soldier in an ambush by NPA insurgents of a military truck on its way to help in the evacuation of residents of Guinobatan on Monday.

“I am appealing to the NPA to help us in the evacuation (of residents) to a safe area,” said Cedric Daep, the head of the Albay Provincial Security and Emergency Management Office.

Daep also lamented that many of the evacuees, mostly men, continued to risk their lives when they violated the extended danger zone by going back to their homes and farms.

To stop such violations, Daep said they were seriously studying the possibility of cutting off water and electricity in the danger areas as he warned: “If pyroclastic flows hit people, there is no chance left.”

“Let us not violate the natural law,” Daep appealed, “by avoiding the prohibited zone. Because if you violate the punishment is the death penalty.”