Tons of dust and ash from the eruption of the Chaitin volcano poured into the night sky just as an electric storm passed overhead. The resulting collision created a spectacular sight as lightning flickered around the dust cloud amid the orange glow of the volcano. The eruption was all the more spectacular because the Chaitin volcano, 800 miles (1,290km) south of Santiago, has been dormant for hundreds - if not thousands of years.

The eruption of Chaiten began on 2 May and these pictures were apparently taken during an electrical storm on the evening of 3 May.