THIS is the mesmerising moment lava pours off a cliff and into the ocean during a massive volcano eruption on a remote tropical island.
Bright red streaks of molten rock were captured in stunning aerial footage cascading down a black rocky outcrop on Réunion Island on Sunday.
Earlier, the boiling magma slowly crept across roads, melting everything in its wake as bystanders watched on in awe.
The flaming viscous flow brought down trees and burnt up the undergrowth as it swallowed the tarmac.
Two lava eruptions from the volcano cut the national highway linking the south and east of the island, causing major disruptions to locals.
Access across the island has been severed for the 900,000 residents of the French region.
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Piton de la Fournaise, Réunion Island’s volcano, began erupting on February 13.
Sunday was the first time that lava had met the Indian Ocean in 19 years.
Precautionary restrictions were put in place and parts of the coastal highway closed.
The molten rock travelled downslope from the volcano’s southeast flank before gushing into the ocean along the island’s coastal margin.
When the basaltic lava came into contact with the choppy seawater, the lava’s outer skin chills almost instantly into volcanic glass and fine‑grained basalt.
Seawater flashes to steam and hot rock heats seawater and can create a cloudy plume.
Where lava meets seawater at the shoreline it can produce lava haze – a mixture that commonly includes steam, hydrochloric acid, and tiny glass particles.
It is hazardous to breathe and irritating to eyes and skin.
Réunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean, experiences volcano eruptions every one to two years.
Piton de la Fournaise is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupting around twenty times over the last 10 years.
The basaltic shield volcano is a UNESCO World Heritage site.