Blog

GUATEMALA — A hot flow of mud, ash, and gas swept down from Guatemala’s Fuego volcano on Monday, after a new explosion interrupted a disaster in the morning. Workers are pulling bodies from the brown sludge known as a pyroclastic flow that the village of El Rodeo is buried in.

 

The morning eruption also caused some rescue efforts on the southern slopes of Fuego, Spanish for “fire”. The national disaster agency raised the death toll to 38 from 25 on Sunday. However, it is unclear whether more bodies had been found or whether more people died in Monday’s eruption.

 

The Biggest Eruption in More Than 4 Decades

The day after the volcano’s eruption, its biggest in more than four decades. It is bigger than Hawaii’s Volcano that erupted on May 3. Residents in the capital Guatemala City woke to sweep the ash from rooftops and streets. Technicians assessed whether the runway at the international airport was clear enough to restart commercial flights.

 

The landscape on the volcano is totally destroyed, said the government volcanologist Gustavo Chigna on local radio.

 

A Reuters witness near the volcano said more people had been evacuated beyond a 5-mile (8 km) perimeter from the site after the new explosion.

 

About the Volcano of Fuego

Fuego, one of several active volcanoes in the Central American country, is near the colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site that has survived several volcanic eruptions. The latest activity from Fuego is mostly on the far side of the volcano, facing the Pacific coast.

 

Around 300 people have been injured since the eruption on Sunday that sent columns ash and smoke 6.2 miles (10 km) into the sky, dusting several regions with ash.