Troops were sent to evacuate residents of a village on the archipelago's largest Grande Comore island after witnesses said they had seen a stream of lava flowing from the Karthala volcano towards the settlement.

But authorities said the massive volcano was not erupting and that there was merely smoke emerging from a small crack on the mountain, according to diplomats on the island.

News of the reported eruption caused panic on the streets of the capital Moroni, the French embassy said. In previous eruptions during the 19th century, the volcano is thought to have sent lava flows beyond the capital.

The military on the island said they had sent trucks to the village of Bahani to evacuate residents believed to be in danger from the reported lava flow, which witnesses said was heading towards the sea.

The village is around five kilometres (three miles) from the island's airport, but it was not known if the facility was also under threat.

The volcano, on the archipelago's largest island of Grande Comore, last saw a magma eruption in 1977, whan lava destroyed the village of Singani, although no one was killed.

A phreatic eruption -- driven by steam from a lake on Karthala's summit crater -- occurred in 1991.

Local authorities had met this week to review security procedures in the event of an eruption, after vulcanologists registered intense seismic activity that suggested an imminent blast.

The number of earth tremors on and around the 2,361-metre (7,746-feet) mountain had increased exponentially over the past three months, said Mallory Leclerc of the Vulcanological Observatory in Moroni.

"If the current situation continues, the risk of eruption in the short term is strong," he said Friday.

Around 100 tremors a day had been reported in August against around two a day in June, according to scientists at the observatory.

TERRA.WIRE