GUATEMALA CITY – Emeregency officials in Guatemala say more than 33,000 people are evacuating due to the eruption of a long-active volcano just outside one of the country’s most famous tourist attractions.

Sergio Cabanas says the evacuees are leaving about 17 villages around the Volcano of Fire, which sits about 16 kilometres from the colonial city of Antigua.

The agency says the volcano spewed lava nearly 600 metres down slopes, billowing with ash.

Seismologists also say a series of explosions have been coming from the 12,346-foot-high volcano.