AKIPRESS.COM - Thousands of people have been evacuated after Guatemala's Fuego volcano started to violently erupt, Sky News reports.

Nearly 4,000 were forced out of their homes on Monday as Volcan de Fuego - Volcano of Fire in Spanish - started spewing lava overnight, the country's disaster agency Conred said.

By Monday morning more than 2,000 people had taken refuge in shelters, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

There were also clouds of hot ash and gas, with further dangerous flows expected, said Juan Pablo Oliva, head of Guatemala's seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute Insivumeh.