Video footage captures the moment a rare occurrence called “volcanic lighting” occurred in the Philippines.
As can be seen in the video below, volcanic smoke and ash are erupting from the volcano as lightning strikes the sky.
The smoke appears to make the lightning more visible and pronounced to onlookers, who are heard screaming in the background at the terrifying scene.
A closeup of the footage seen below was re-posted by meteorological institution MetSul on Twitter.
Volcanic lighting is a rare natural phenomenon believed to be caused by ash particles rubbing together in volcanic clouds, creating friction and static electricity.
The Taal volcano began spewing lava on Monday morning local time.
A day prior, the volcano emitted a huge plume of ash across the surrounding area, and put an estimated 450,000 people at risk, according to the UN OCHA office in the Philippines.
The ash covered the area in a blanket of volcanic dust, and as of 6.a.m Monday local time 7,700 people had been evacuated by authorities.
The volcano is one of the world’s smallest in size, but has recorded 34 eruptions over the last 450 years, according to the BBC.
This article originally appeared on Insider. Follow @thisisinsider on Twitter.
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