Mayon volcano eruption: 56,000 people flee as volcano spews fountains of red-hot lava and massive ash plumes

Up to 56,000 villagers fled to safety as the Philippines' most active volcano erupted.

Mount Mayon spewed jets of superheated lava and huge plumes of ash in a dazzling but potentially deadly eruption on Tuesday.

Lava fountains gushed to 700m above Mayon's crater and ash plumes rose up to 1.9 miles, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

The explosive eruption that began at noon local time on Monday was the most powerful since dangerous activity began at the volcano more than a week ago.

Footage shared to Twitter shows a smoke plume bursting out of the crater as it erupted.