Thousands flee their homes  and flights are grounded as Chilean volcano sends plumes of ash  showering down  
The  Chilean volcano which erupted last week has sent a towering plume of  ash across South America, forcing thousands from their homes,  grounding airline flights in southern Argentina and coating ski  resorts with a gritty layer of dust instead of snow.

    Booming explosions echoed across the Andes as toxic gases  belched up from a three-mile-long fissure in the Puyehue-Cordon  Caulle volcanic complex - a ridge between two craters just west of  the Chilean-Argentine border that began erupting Saturday.  

  Winds blew a six-mile high cloud of ash all the way  to the Atlantic Ocean and even into southern Buenos Aires province,  hundreds of miles to the north-east.

 

Raining ash: The plume above the Puyehue-Cordon  Caulle volcano chain threw ash up to six miles into the sky  

 

Engulfed in ash: A policeman walks between rocks and  ash near the volcano site in southern Chile
Authorities in Chile  went house to house, trying to persuade stragglers near the volcano  to evacuate because of an increasing danger of toxic gas and flash  floods.

  Winds fanned the ash toward neighbouring   Argentina , darkening the sky in the ski resort city of San Carlos de  Bariloche, in the centre of the country, and its airport has also  been closed.

  The eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon  Caulle volcanic chain, about 575 miles south of the capital,  Santiago, also prompted authorities to close a busy border crossing  into Argentina.

  It was not immediately clear which of  the chain's four volcanoes had erupted because of ash cover and  weather conditions. The chain last saw a major eruption in 1960.  

 

Grounded: An aircraft belonging to Austral with ash  on it from Chile 's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain remains  stranded on the tarmac of the sky resort San Carlos de Bariloche in   Argentina 's Patagonia .

 

Covering: This road near the volcano site was left  completely coated in pumice rocks from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle  chain volcano.

 

Massive: An example of a pumice rock from Chile 's  Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain volcano is displayed
Local media  said the smell of sulphur hung in the air and there was constant  seismic activity.
'The Cordon Caulle (volcanic range) has  entered an eruptive process, with an explosion resulting in a  10-kilometre-high gas column,' the state emergency office ONEMI  said.

  As a precaution, the government said it was  evacuating 3,500 people from the surrounding area.

    This development is the latest volcanic activity to affect the  country.  Three years ago, Chile 's Chaiten volcano erupted  spectacularly for the first time in thousands of years, spewing  molten rock and a vast cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere  and was visible from space.

  It also drifted over  neighbouring Argentina , coating towns. Chile 's Llaima volcano, one  of South America 's most active, also erupted that year and again in  2009.

  Chile 's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the  world's second largest after Indonesia .  Some 50 to 60 are on  record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

   

Winter come early: In scenes more reminiscent of a  snow storm, residents walk through an ash covered street in the  resort San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina .

 

Spectacular: A time-lapse photo shows lightning bolts  striking around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain.

   

As a precaution, the government said it was  evacuating 3,500 people from the surrounding area.

   

An extraordinary cloud formation is created by the  ash rising several miles into the atmosphere.  It was the  latest in a series of volcanic eruptions in Chile in recent years.    Chile 's Chaiten volcano erupted spectacularly in 2008 for the  first time in thousands of years, spewing molten rock and a vast  cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere.

  The ash  also swelled a nearby river and ravaged a nearby town of the same  name.

  The ash cloud from Chaiten coated towns in   Argentina and was visible from space.   Chile 's Llaima volcano,  one of South America 's most active, erupted in 2008 and 2009.  

  Chile 's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the world's  second largest after Indonesia .  Some 50 to 60 are on record as  having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

 

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Above cloud level the plume looks like a nuclear bomb  has just exploded with its mushroom cloud bursting towards the  skies.

 

A woman wipes a thick layer of volcanic ash away from  the windscreen of her car.

 

Headlights on, a car creeps through a street covered  in ash.  One could be forgiven for thinking this was a wintry  scene covered in snow.

 

Caught in the sunlight: Beautiful but deadly, the  cloud turns fiery red in the sunshine as the eruption continues to  belch ash skyward.

 

Smiling lightning: As molten rock and gases are  ejected from the core of the volcano below, what appears to be a  'have a nice day' face is formed from the electrically charged air.  

 

Protection: Carrying bottles of water and soft drinks  this man wears a gas mask to avoid breathing in ash.

   

As darkness falls the centre of this Argentinian town  looks like it could be a wintry wonderland in the Austrian  mountains.

 

A car drives through a street covered by ash in the  Argentine resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche.
It lies 100  miles from Chile 's Puyehue volcano.