Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano shot columns of ash miles into the air as officials ordered 3,000 villagers living near its slopes to evacuate.

Hundreds of villagers have been evacuated after Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano started rumbling, authorities said today.

Showers of incandescent rock and lava from a volcanic eruption in Ecuador’s Andes mountains destroyed nearby villages, killing at least one resident and sending thousands fleeing.

A VOLCANIC eruption in Ecuador’s Andes mountains destroyed three villages, killed at least one man and left more than 60 others missing, the mayor of a village on the volcano’s slope said yesterday.