A volcano has spewed ash over a wide area in two pre-dawn blasts near Ecuador’s capital. Mount Cotopaxi is one of the most sought after tourist locations in Ecuador and is located around 30 miles south of Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

It is included in the list of the world’s most unsafe volcanoes because it is close to a large city and has glacial cover that could lead to fast-moving volcanic rock and mud flows.

The volcano’s last major eruptive period occurred in the late 19th century, according to the Geophysics Institute.

Residents were taken to safe evacuation far away from the volcano as it continuously splatters ash across the area. On Friday families could be seen frantically packing their belongings into cars and fleeing their homes to the sound of sirens and with a background of a grey cloud forming above the volcano.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency on Saturday, a day after the giant Cotopaxi volcano erupted, shooting plumes of ash and poisonous gases high into the sky. According to Mayor Mauricio Rodas, an order to release about a million surgical masks for the people have already been in place.

Pablo Morillo, head of the Secretariat for Risk Management, told the news agency that several towns and river settlements in Cotopaxi province, some 28 miles south of Quito, were cleared.

The authorities have restricted members of the public from accessing the park that surrounds the Cotopaxi, which is a popular mountaineering spot. The authorities have also cancelled mountain climbing activities to the peak, with 15 climbers asked to go home. This video was shot from an aircraft circling Quito airport. The Cotopaxi volcano still shows sign of increasing activity alarming the people living nearby.