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Philippines orders evacuation near powerful volcano

Manila - Philippines authorities on Tuesday ordered people living close to a powerful volcano to evacuate, warning a dangerous eruption may occur within weeks.

Magma has reached the crater of Mayon volcano, in a coastal and farming area 330km southeast of Manila, according to the director of the state volcanology agency, Renato Solidum.

"A hazardous eruption is possible within weeks," Solidum told AFP in a text message.

Residents within the volcano's six-kilometre radius, already designated as a "permanent danger zone", will be forcibly evacuated immediately, regional civil defence director Bernardo Alejandro told AFP.

The volcanalogy agency raised the danger alert for Mayon to three, on a five-level scale. Level three means there is "relatively high unrest", and five means an eruption is occurring.

Local officials were meeting on Tuesday to discuss their response to a possible eruption, Alejandro said in a text message.

It was not immediately clear how many people lived within the danger zone, but a local official told a televised press conference that 120 people had already been evacuated.

Mayon and its surroundings are also a popular tourist destination.

Mayon, one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes, last erupted in May 2013 when it spewed a giant ash cloud and a hail of rocks, killing four foreign tourists and their local tour guide.

The 2 460m Mayon is famed for its near-perfect cone but has a long history of deadly eruptions.

In 1814, more than 1 200 people were killed when lava flows buried the town of Cagsawa.

An explosion in August 2006 did not cause direct deaths, but the following December a passing typhoon unleashed an avalanche of volcanic mud from Mayon's slopes that killed 1 000 people.

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