
Flames reach up to the heavens as lightning flashes criss-cross the sky.



These extraordinary images show the full force of Mother Nature as a Chilean volcano erupts for the first time in 50 years.



Ash has been thrown six miles up into the sky and the South American government has ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Winds fanned the ash toward neighbouring Argentina, darkening the sky in the ski resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche, in the centre of the country, and its airport has also been closed.

As a precaution, the government said it was evacuating 3,500 people from the surrounding area

Nature's force: Lightning and volcanic fire is seen amid and underneath a towering cloud of ash. It is the first time the volcano has erupted in 50 years

Incredible lightening bolts strike around the plume of volcanic ash and smoke

An extraordinary cloud formation is created by the ash rising several miles into the atmosphere The eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain, about 575 miles south of the capital, Santiago, also prompted authorities to close a busy border crossing into Argentina.

It was not immediately clear which of the chain's four volcanoes had erupted because of ash cover and weather conditions. The chain last saw a major eruption in 1960.

Local media said the smell of sulphur hung in the air and there was constant seismic activity.

'The Cordon Caulle (volcanic range) has entered an eruptive process, with an explosion resulting in a 10-kilometre-high gas column,' the state emergency office ONEMI said.

As a precaution, the government said it was evacuating 3,500 people from the surrounding area. This development is the latest volcanic activity to affect the country. Three years ago, Chile's Chaiten volcano erupted spectacularly for the first time in thousands of years, spewing molten rock and a vast cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere and was visible from space.

It also drifted over neighbouring Argentina, coating towns. Chile's Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, also erupted that year and again in 2009.

Chile's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second largest after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 are on record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

Above cloud level the plume looks like a nuclear bomb has just exploded with its mushroom cloud bursting towards the skies

A woman wipes a thick layer of volcanic ash away from the windscreen of her car

Headlights on, a car creeps through a street covered in ash. One could be forgiven for thinking this was a wintry scene covered in snow

It was the latest in a series of volcanic eruptions in Chile in recent years. Chile's Chaiten volcano erupted spectacularly in 2008 for the first time in thousands of years, spewing molten rock and a vast cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere.

The ash also swelled a nearby river and ravaged a nearby town of the same name.



The ash cloud from Chaiten coated towns in Argentina and was visible from space. Chile's Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, erupted in 2008 and 2009.



Chile's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second largest after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 are on record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

Caught in the sunlight: Beautiful but deadly, the cloud turns fiery red in the sunshine as the eruption continues to belch ash skyward

Smiling lightning: As molten rock and gases are ejected from the core of the volcano below, what appears to be a 'have a nice day' face is formed from the electrically charged air

Protection: Carrying bottles of water and soft drinks this man wears a gas mask to avoid breathing in ash

As darkness falls the centre of this Argentinian town looks like it could be a wintry wonderland in the Austrian mountains