Unprecedented plan to use drones to rescue dogs trapped by lava on Spain's La Palma island

La Palma Island, Spain — An unprecedented drone operation was being prepared Wednesday to rescue four dogs stranded for weeks between rivers of red-hot lava streaming from an erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma.

The emaciated dogs are stranded in two empty water tanks in the town of Todoque, flanked by slow moving lava flows from the Cumbre Vieja volcano that erupted on September 19.

The molten rock has so far covered over 1,885 acres of land and destroyed around 2,000 buildings although prompt evacuations have helped avoid fatalities in the island, part of the Canary Islands off northwest Africa.