© AP
A woman is helped onto a boat as she is evacuated from the Pacific island of Ambae, Vanuatu.
Vanuatu has launched a Dunkirk-style evacuation on the northern island of Ambae as a flotilla of boats rescues islanders from an erupting volcano that has polluted many of the island's sources of drinking water.
Crowds of islanders from at least three evacuation points on the island have begun boarding ferries, canoes and commercial vessels for the safety of surrounding islands Maewo, Pentecost and Santo.
Reuters reporter Ben Bohane, on location in Ambae, said he saw people camping on a hillside at the town of Lolowai waiting calmly for ships to ferry them to safety.
"There were big sacks of rice and boxes of tinned fish," he said.
The eruption has polluted many of the island's water sources leaving thousands of people in need of safe drinking water, Red Cross delegate Joe Cropp told Reuters by phone on Sunday.
"Water is crucial," he said. "It's important to get on top of it right away."
The Manaro Voui volcano, the nation's largest, was seen hurling steam and rocks into the air by New Zealand vulcanologist Brad Scott who flew over the volcano on Saturday.
Comment: Meanwhile Bali volcano evacuees from outside the 'danger zone' have been told to return home. Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika
said it had only been necessary for about 70,000 people from 28 villages to have evacuated - about half the total number of 141,399 evacuees.
Mount Agung, a volcano in eastern Bali, has been on the highest possible alert since September 22, after intensifying seismic activity pushed molten rock known as magma towards the surface.
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