CBS News confused about location of La Palma volcano

I know, geography can be SO confusing! The Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption sits on the Iberian Peninsula of Spain, but when CBS gave this report on the catastrophe, they pointed to a region in Murcia, Spain, 2,219 kilometres away. To be fair, a La Palma does exist in the region of Murcia near Cartagena. When speaking about an island, however, it is not too difficult to see the mistake when CBS points to a region on the coast of Spain rather than, you know…an island.

CBS did correct the error and correctly locate the island, which sits in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, but not before the internet got a hold of it.

It may seem like we’re poking fun at CBS, but it should be noted that they are not the only ones to be confused. These things happen when communities share similar names. The island has also been confused with Palma de Mallorca and the province of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It’s fair to say that most people around the world had never even heard of La Palma before the volcanic eruption, and even some people in Spain could not correctly point it out on a map, with some Spanish news sources placing the eruption in Gran Canaria.

The real site of the volcanic eruption is on an island called La Palma, which is a neighboring island to Gran Canaria, which holds the province of the plural form of the name, Las Palmas. La Palma is an island off the Atlantic Ocean, belonging to the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on the island over a month ago and the lava is still flowing without any signs of slowing yet.