The eruption of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala has triggered the evacuation of at least two villages on its slopes.

Fuego, one of the most active volcanoes in the Western Hemisphere, started spewing lava and ash on Monday.

Pyroclastic currents – rivers of gas, volcanic ash and rock fragments – continued to flow down Fuego’s south-eastern slope early on Tuesday, the government agency which monitors its activity said.

Disaster management agency Conred issued a nationwide orange alert, the second highest, and warned locals to be prepared as the eruptions could create further pyroclastic flows and billowing ash clouds.

Conred urged people to keep their windows and doors closed and lessons have been cancelled in schools close to the volcano.

Fuego is located just 16km (10 miles) west of Antigua, a city popular with tourists, who travel to the Unesco World Heritage Site to admire its colonial-era architecture.

The active stratovolcano has also become popular with hikers.

Conred warned visitors and locals alike to refrain from approaching or remaining in areas at risk, in particular on the volcano’s slopes.

More than 200 people were killed when Fuego erupted in 2018, many of them caught in the fast-flowing pyroclastic flows which raced down the Las Lajas ravine.