More than 4 thousand people have been evacuated in southern Chile after a volcano erupted for the first time in thousands of years.

The Chaiten volcano, located 10 kilometers from the city of Chaiten, erupted on Friday, and started spewing ash a day later.

The government's Emergency Bureau said at times the plumes of dust rose as high as 20 kilometres, while more than 60 earthquakes have been reported.

As residents fled in fear of more eruptions and tremors, Chaiten has almost become a ghost city.
Chile's Interior Minister is Edmundo Perez.

"It is very hard and very unpredictable to say when the people might come back, what we are going to do or how long this phenomenon is going to last."

Winds also carried the volcano ash to other towns in the region and across the Andes mountains to Argentina where two airlines suspended flights due to poor visibility.