A huge volcanic eruption has engulfed homes and fields across three towns in Guatemala, killing at least 25 people with local officials warning the death toll is expected to rise.

Volcan de Fuego, whose name means "Volcano of Fire", spewed an 8km (5-mile) stream of red hot lava and belched a thick plume of black smoke and ash that rained onto the capital and other regions.

One video purportedly from the worst-affected village of El Rodeo showed the charred remains of three victims strewn atop the steaming, ashen remnants of a pyroclastic flow.

Rescue agencies estimate around 300 people have been injured, but they have struggled to reach rural areas cut off by the eruption. Authorities have been unable to account for an undetermined number of people and say whole villages remain unaccounted for.

A rescue worker carries a child covered with ash after Fuego volcano erupted violently in El Rodeo, Guatemala (Reuters)

"Unfortunately El Rodeo was buried and we haven't been able to reach the La Libertad village because of the lava and maybe there are people that died there too," said Sergio Cabanas, the general secretary of Guatemala's CONRED national disaster management agency.

In another video, a visibly exhausted woman, her face blackened from ash, said she had narrowly escaped as lava poured through corn fields.

She said "plenty" of members of her family had been left behind. "Not everyone escaped, I think they were buried," Consuelo Hernandez told news outlet Diario de Centroamerica.

Eddy Sanchez, director of the country's seismology and volcanology institute, said the flows reached temperatures of about 700C (1,300F)

Dramatic video showed a fast-moving lahar, or flow of pyroclastic material and slurry, slamming into and partly destroying a bridge on a road between Sacatepequez and Escuintla.

Homes were still burning in El Rodeo late on Sunday, and a charred stench hung over the town.

Amid darkness and rain, the rescue effort was suspended until early Monday morning, municipal firefighters' spokesman Cecilio Chacaj said.

Among the fatalities were four people, including a disaster agency official, killed when lava set a house on fire in El Rodeo village, national disaster coordinator Sergio Cabanas said.

Two children were burned to death as they watched the volcano's second eruption this year from a bridge, he added.

Another victim was found in the streets of El Rodeo by volunteer firefighters, but the person died in an ambulance.

At an ad-hoc morgue in the town of Alotenango, at least three bodies lay covered with blue sheets.

Guatemala's disaster agency said 3,100 people had evacuated nearby communities, and ash fall from the eruption was affecting an area with about 1.7 million of country's 15 million or so people. Shelters were opened for those forced to flee.

Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Show all 16 1 /16 Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Guatemalan police evacuate people in the village of El Porvenir following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego EPA Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption A rescue worker helps a woman covered with ash Reuters Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Volcano Fuego during an eruptive pulse AFP/Getty Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Emergency personnel rescuing a person EPA/Ministry of Defense Guatemala Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Residents take refuge in a shelter south of Guatemala City following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego AFP/Getty Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption The eruption of Volcan de Fuego is captured from Alotenango, southwest of Guatemala City AFP/Getty Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption TOPSHOT - A police officer carries a baby after the eruption of the Fuego Volcano, in El Rodeo village, Escuintla department, 35 km south of Guatemala City on June 3, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / NOE PEREZNOE PEREZ/AFP/Getty Images NOE PEREZ AFP/Getty Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Residents stand behind a safety cordon following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego Reuters Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Relatives react as volunteers carry a coffin with the body of Sergio Vasquez who died following the eruption AFP/Getty Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption People flee the ash covered village of El Rodeo, south of Guatemala City AFP/Getty Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Police officers in protective masks guard the area around the village of El Rodeo following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego Reuters Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption An ash covered child is rescued in the village of El Rodeo following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego Reuters Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Soldiers sweep up ash at La Aurora International Airport Reuters Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption A young girl is carried by a rescue worker in the village of El Rodeo following the eruption of Volcan de Fuego EPA Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUALS COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH ??The ash covered limbs of victims of Fuego volcano's eruption are seen inside the morgue in San Juan Alotenango, Guatemala June 3, 2018. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria Reuters Guatemala volcano: dozens dead after Volcan de Fuego eruption Fuego volcano after it erupted violently Reuters

"Currently the volcano continues to erupt and there exists a high potential for (pyroclastic) avalanches of debris," the disaster agency said late on Sunday via Twitter, quoting Sanchez, the director of the seismology and volcanology institute.

Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales said he would issue a declaration of a state of emergency to be approved by Congress and urged people to heed warnings from emergency officials.

Ash fell on the Guatemala City area as well as the departments of Sacatepequez, Chimaltenango and Escuintla, which are in south-central Guatemala around the volcano. Streets and houses were covered in the colonial town of Antigua, a popular tourist destination.

Aviation authorities closed the capital's international airport because of the danger posed to planes by the ash.

One of Central America's most active volcanoes, the conical Volcan de Fuego reaches an altitude of 12,346 feet (3,763 meters) above sea level at its peak.