Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupts, killing at least 25

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A rescue worker carries a girl in El Rodeo, Escuintla.

Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupts, killing at least 25


(CNN)Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupted, killing at least 25 people and leaving residents covered in ash as they fled from billowing plumes.

The volcanic eruption Sunday spewed a river of red hot lava and belched thick clouds of smoke nearly six miles into the air, according to the CONRED, the government agency for disaster reduction. Ashen remnants covered neighborhoods.

In addition to the fatalities, 20 others were injured, CONRED said.

Survivors described the horror and destruction when the volcano erupted.

"Not everyone escaped, I think they were buried," Consuelo Hernandez said in a video released by CONRED. "We saw the lava was pouring through the corn fields and we ran toward a hill."

Hernandez told officials from the disaster agency that some of her relatives were buried. Images from the scene showed a firefighter weeping.

Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales declared three days of national mourning.

Evacuate immediately


More than 3,100 people have been evacuated while search and rescue efforts continue into the night, said Sergio García Cabañas, director of the disaster agency. The explosion will affect 1.7 million people.

Authorities urged residents living near the volcano to evacuate immediately, and warned some in Chimaltenango, Sacatepequez and Escuintla states to watch out for volcanic rocks and ash.

Residents were told to avoid roads close to the volcano and ensure water is not contaminated.


At least 15 people have been hospitalized, including 12 children, some of whom suffered severe burns, the health ministry said.

The eruption officially ended late Sunday, according to the Guatemala's National Institute of Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology.

"The eruption ... is reaching its end with 14.763 feet of ash and weak-to-moderate explosions and incandescence in its crater," it said in a statement.

But it warned there could be new eruptions, and residents in the surrounding areas should be on alert for mudslides containing volcanic material. Volcanic ash had spread in a 12-mile radius and winds could carry the cloud even farther, officials said.

Neighbors stand outside a temporary morgue near Volcan de Fuego in Alotenango, Guatemala.
Neighbors stand outside a temporary morgue near Volcan de Fuego in Alotenango, Guatemala.

'Ring of fire


Guatemala is situated on the "Ring of Fire," an area of intense seismic activity.
The 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) area stretches from the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the smaller plates such as the Philippine Sea plate to the Cocos and Nazca Plates that line the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

What is the Ring of Fire?
Volcan de Fuego, which means fire volcano, is one of Central America's most active.

It is near the colonial city of Antigua. Sunday's explosion rained soot over the popular tourist destination and other villages in the Sacatepéquez state, covering them in ash.

Villages south of the volcano in the Escuintla department were affected, too, Cabañas said. Some ash reached the capital of Guatemala City about 25 miles away, forcing the closure of its international airport. The Guatemalan army shared images of officers clearing the runway with push brooms.


Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto expressed condolences and offered assistance.

"All our solidarity and support to the President Jimmy Morales and the Guatemalan people for the loss of human life after the eruption of the volcano of Fire."

The President of El Salvador offered his condolences via Twitter and said his country stood ready to assist its neighbor.
Israel's Ambassador to Guatemala and the Mayor of Puerto Rico also expressed their solidarity.
Map data ©2018 Google, INEGI
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/03/americas ... index.html

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Guatemala volcano: Almost 200 missing and 75 dead


Guatemala volcano: Thousands evacuated
At least 192 people are missing and 75 are dead as a result of the explosion of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala on Sunday, officials say.

Villages on the slopes were buried in volcanic ash and mud.

Rescue work on Tuesday was disrupted when a new eruption sent hot gas and molten rock streaming down the volcano's south side.

More than 1.7 million people have been affected by Sunday's eruption, with more than 3,000 evacuated.

How the volcano disaster unfolded
The aftermath in pictures
Tuesday's explosion took many by surprise after volcanologists said the eruption, which had sent ash up to 10km (33,000ft) into the sky on Sunday, was over for the near future.

Eddy Sanchez, the head of Guatemala's National Institute of Seismology, had predicted "no imminent eruption over the next few days".

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A village wiped off the map

Will Grant, BBC News, El Rodeo, Guatemala

Boris Rodriguez has no-one to turn to now. He lost more loved ones in a single night on Sunday than many do in a lifetime.

Mr Rodriguez's wife, both of her parents, his brother and sister-in-law and their children died when the Fuego volcano erupted.

"I saw the children's bodies," he told me between sobs. "They were huddled together in the bed, like they were trying to hide from what was happening."

If Mr Rodriguez, who is 25, were a solitary case, it would be heartbreaking enough. But most of his neighbours in the village of El Rodeo have similar stories of grief. The village was almost entirely wiped off the map.

Chaos and hope: More on-the-ground accounts

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Volunteers and rescuers evacuate the disaster zone as a column of smoke and ash rises from the area where lava flowed down the Fuego Volcano,AFP
Volunteers and rescuers evacuate the disaster zone during the latest eruption
Media members reacts at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano in the community of San Miguel Los Lotes in Escuintla, Guatemala June 5, 2018.Reuters
Journalists run during the second blast
Why were so many people killed in the initial eruption?

Almost 200 people remain unaccounted for, said AFP news agency, quoting Guatemala's Disaster Relief Agency.

No evacuation alert was issued before the volcano erupted on Sunday, said the agency's chief, Sergio Cabañas.

Eruption in pictures
How many people do volcanoes kill?
More on Guatemala
Are you in the area? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
He added that local residents had received training in emergency procedures but were not able to implement them because the initial volcanic activity happened too fast.

Map of volcano-hit areaAFP
Graphic showing the pyroclastic flow
Sunday's blast generated pyroclastic flows - fast-moving mixtures of very hot gas and volcanic matter - which descended down the slopes, engulfing communities including El Rodeo and San Miguel Los Lotes.

Volcanologist Dr Janine Krippner told the BBC that people should not underestimate the risk from pyroclastic flows and volcanic mudflows, known as lahars.

"Fuego is a very active volcano. It has deposited quite a bit of loose volcanic material and it is also in a rain-heavy area, so when heavy rains hit the volcano that is going to be washing the deposits away into these mudflows which carry a lot of debris and rock.

"They are extremely dangerous and deadly as well."


Faye Dunstan describes the day the Fuego volcano erupted
Lava ash like 'black rain'
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Deadly flow, as fast as a jet plane

By Paul Rincon, science editor, BBC News website

Displaced people walk along a road from an area affected by the eruption of Fuego volcano in Escuintla, Guatemala, 5 June 2018Reuters
Thousands have left their homes since the eruption
A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving mixture of gas and volcanic material, such as pumice and ash. Such flows are a common outcome of explosive volcanic eruptions, like the Fuego event, and are extremely dangerous to populations living downrange.

Just why they are so threatening can be seen from some of the eyewitness videos on YouTube of the Guatemalan eruption. In one, people stand on a bridge filming the ominous mass of gas and volcanic debris as it expands from Fuego.

Some bystanders only realise how fast it is travelling as the flow is almost upon them.


Video shows Guatemala's most violent volcano eruption in more than a century
The speed it travels depends on several factors, such as the output rate of the volcano and the gradient of its slope. But they have been known to reach speeds of up to 700km/h - close to the cruising speed of a long-distance commercial passenger aircraft.

In addition, the gas and rock within a flow are heated to extreme temperatures, ranging between 200C and 700C. If you're directly in its path, there is little chance of escape.

The eruption of Vesuvius, in Italy, in 79 AD produced a powerful pyroclastic flow, burying the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under a thick blanket of ash.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44378775