Yikes. The stock market is plunging on the latest news from Greece.

Problems with Greek debt are about to spread to other countries and could infect the US unless the nation tackles its own mounting problems, Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC.

Riots erupted in Greece again on Thursday night to protest austerity measures.

About an hour or so after El-Erian spoke, global stocks sold off sharply with major US averages shedding more than 3 percent.

Speaking as Greek austerity measures won enough votes to be approved by parliament, El-Erian offered a stern warning about the potential of the crisis to escalate into something resembling, though not duplicating, the 2008-09 financial crisis.

“We’ve seen a crisis start in a country—Greece—become regional, impact the whole of the Euro zone and is on the verge of truly going global,” said El-Erian, CEO of the world’s biggest bond fund. He said the debt is a “transmission mechanism to go from country to region to global. So we should take this very seriously.”