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GUATEMALA CITY. – Guatemalan authorities issued new warnings to its residents after signs of more activity at the Fuego volcano indicated it may erupt again.
The warning comes just one day after the volcano’s most violent eruption in more than 40 years.
Meanwhile, authorities in Guatemala say that the death toll from Sunday’s devastating volcano eruption has climbed to 75 and nearly 200 people remain missing.
The seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute, Insivumeh, heightened its warnings after the volcano erupted again earlier on Tuesday, forcing evacuations and sending rescue workers scrambling for cover.
A column of smoke rose from the mountain and hot volcanic material began descending its south side, prompting new evacuation orders for half a dozen communities and the closure of a highway on Tuesday.
Volcan de Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, spewed a 10km-long stream of red-hot lava and shot out a thick plume of black smoke and ash on Sunday that rained down onto several regions and the capital, Guatemala City, 30km away from the hardest-hit area. -Agencies.
Here are the latest updates:
A total of 192 people remain missing since the weekend eruptions, disaster relief agency chief Sergio Cabanas told reporters.
Seven communities in already devastated areas were evacuated as the volcano’s activity increased, with rescue operations halted.
“The conditions are extremely critical at this moment,” Insivumeh Director Eddy Sanchez told reporters.
The search for bodies in mountain villages destroyed by the eruption was progressing slowly, officials said earlier, given the nature of the terrain and the way the volcano released large amounts of boiling mud, rock and ash down the mountain.
On Tuesday, Guatemala’s disaster agency reported that superhot volcanic material is once again flowing down the south side of the volcano. The agency ordered new evacuations from areas around it.
Rescue workers pulled more bodies from under the ash and rubble, bringing the death toll to at least 70. But officials said just 17 had been identified so far because the intense heat of the volcanic debris flows left most bodies unrecognisable.
As dawn broke, the volcano continued to rattle with what the country’s volcanology institute said were eight to 10 moderate eruptions per hour – significantly less intense than Sunday’s big blasts.
But the head of Guatemala’s National Institute of Seismology, Eddy Sanchez, said the worst of the volcanic activity appears to be over.
“It is evident that the volcano’s energy has decreased and its tendency is to continue decreasing. No eruption is imminent in the coming days,” the Republica newspaper quoted him as saying.
The grim recovery effort continued on Tuesday. Using shovels and backhoes, emergency workers dug through the debris and mud, perilous labour on smouldering terrain still hot enough to melt the soles of shoes.
Bodies were so thickly coated with ash that they looked like statues. Rescuers used sledgehammers to break through the roofs of houses buried in debris up to their rooflines to check for anyone trapped inside. – News Agencies
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