Residents in the state of Colima, Mexico have been forced to evacuate their homes as one of the most active volcanoes in Central America started to violently erupt on Friday spewing a large plume of ash and thick black smoke into the sky.



The Colima volcano known as the volcano of fire has been erupting slowly since early September.

More than 300 people were ordered on Friday to evacuate from two villages in the foothills of Volcan de Fuego, the 3,839-meter mountain which towers over the states of Jalisco and Colima.

A timelapse taken from a webcam observing the peak shows its most recent fiery outburst, raining molten rock and ash on the surrounding area.

Late Friday, Colima State Governor Jose Ignacio Peralta ordered people to evacuate from the nearby villages of La Becerrera and La Yerbabuena because of lava and noxious gases being emitted by the volcano.

Members of the National Civil Protection, Mexico’s Army and the State Civil Protection Unit have been deployed to transport residents to emergency hostels away from the danger, according to the local government website.

People are also being warned to stay away from rivers and ravines close to the volcano, for fear the lava could take a path of least resistance and rush downhill. </s> Mexico's Colima volcano erupts, forcing nearby communities to evacuate

Updated

Mexico's Colima volcano has erupted, spewing a large plume of ash and thick black smoke into the sky and forcing the evacuation of two nearby villages.

Chief of National Emergency Services, Luis Felipe Puente, said some 350 villagers living in the shadow of the volcano in the towns of La Yerbabuena and La Becerrera had been evacuated to a nearby shelter.

The volcano is located in western Mexico between the states of Colima and Jalisco, about 500 kilometres from Mexico City.

It is one of the most active volcanoes in the country and Central America.

Colima, also known as fuego — or fire — has had more than 30 periods of eruption since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s.

Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago.

Reuters

Topics: volcanic-eruption, mexico

First posted </s> Mexico's Colima volcano erupted on Friday, spewing a large plume of ash and thick black smoke into the sky and provoking the evacuation of two nearby villages.

The volcano is located in western Mexico between the states of Colima and Jalisco and is one of the country's most active.

Luis Felipe Puente, head of national emergency services, told Reuters that some 350 villagers living in the shadow of the volcano in the towns of La Yerbabuena and La Becerrera have been evacuated to a nearby shelter. </s> MEXICO CITY — Eruptions at the Colima volcano in western Mexico have led authorities to evacuate two small hamlets on the volcano's slopes.

The government of the state of Colima said 230 people had been evacuated from the hamlet of La Becerra and 80 from Yerbabuena. Civil officials said some went to a shelter in the town of Comala.

Authorities in the state of Jalisco evacuated residents of another hamlet, known as Juan Barragan.

Friday's eruption sent lava or glowing rocks down the volcano's flanks and a column of ash and into the air.

Also known as the Volcano of Fire, the 12,533-foot (3,820-meter) volcano is 430 miles (690 ) northwest of Mexico City. </s> A volcano erupted in Guatemala on Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring 20 as a cloud of smoke coated nearby villages in heavy ash.

One of the most active volcanoes in Central America, Volcan de Fuego (Spanish for “volcano of fire") is located about 27 miles from Guatemala City.

Some 3,100 people evacuated nearby communities, and the eruption was affecting an area with a population of about 1.7 million people. Shelters were opened for those forced to flee.

“It’s a river of lava that overflowed its banks and affected the Rodeo village. There are injured, burned and dead people,” Sergio Cabanas, the general secretary of Guatemala’s Conred disaster agency, said on radio, according to the Guardian.

Social media posts showed photos and videos of people perilously close to the eruption, which one volcanologist warned strongly against:

"This is a deadly eruption," tweeted volcanologist Janine Krippner of Concord University. "This is an awful place to be, if you are ever around an erupting volcano like this and you see a cloud moving along the ground towards you, RUN. GET OUT OF THERE!."

Officials fear more people may be dead or injured. </s> GUATEMALA — 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.

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.

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.

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.

“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. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - At least seven people, including three children, were killed and nearly 300 injured on Sunday in the most violent eruption of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano in over four decades, officials said.

Fuego volcano, whose name means “fire” in English, spewed an 8-kilometer (5-mile) stream of red hot lava and belched a thick plume of black smoke and ash that rained onto the capital and other regions.

The charred bodies of victims laid on the steaming, ashen remnants of a pyroclastic flow as rescuers attended to badly injured victims.

“It’s a river of lava that overflowed its banks and affected the El Rodeo village. There are injured, burned and dead people,” Sergio Cabanas, the general secretary of Guatemala’s CONRED national disaster management agency, said on radio.

“We have 7 confirmed dead, 4 adults and 3 kids, who were already taken to the morgue,” said Mario Cruz, spokesman for the volunteer firefighter corps.

Cabanas said one of those killed was a CONRED employee. He added that 3,100 people had evacuated the area so far.

Dozens of videos were popping up on social media and local TV, depicting the extent of devastation.

One video published by news outlet Telediario purportedly taken in the El Rodeo village showed three bodies strewn atop a lava flow, as rescuers arrived to attend to an elderly man caked from head to toe in ash and mud.

“Unfortunately El Rodeo was buried and we haven’t been able to reach the La Libertad village because of the lava and maybe there are people that died there too,” said CONRED’s Cabanas.

In another video, a visibly exhausted woman said she had narrowly escaped as lava poured through corn fields.

“Not everyone escaped, I think they were buried,” Consuelo Hernandez told local news outlet Diario de Centroamerica in a video.

Steaming lava flowed down the streets of a village as emergency crews entered homes in search of trapped residents, another video on a different local media outlet showed.

President Jimmy Morales said he had convened his ministers and was considering declaring a state of emergency in the departments of Chimaltenango, Escuintla and Sacatepequez.

The eruption forced the Guatemala City’s La Aurora international airport to shut down its only runway due to the presence of volcanic ash and to guarantee passenger and aircraft safety, Guatemala’s civil aviation authority said in a Tweet.

The volcano is located some 25 miles (40 km) southwest of the capital Guatemala City and is close to the colonial city of Antigua, popular with tourists and known for its coffee plantations.

Workers and guests were evacuated from the La Reunion golf club near Antigua. Video footage showed a black cloud of ash rising from just beyond the golf club. The lava river was running on the other side of the volcano.

The huge plumes of smoke that could be seen from various parts of the country and the ash that fell in four of Guatemala’s departments caused alarm among residents.

“Temperatures in the pyroclastic flow can exceed 700 degrees (Celsius) and volcanic ash can rain down on a 15 kilometer (9.32 miles) radius. That could cause more mud flows and nearby rivers to burst their banks,” said Eddy Sanchez, director of Guatemala’s seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute.

David de Leon, a CONRED spokesman, said a change in wind was to blame for the volcanic ash falling on parts of the capital. </s> A volunteer firefighter cries after leaving El Rodeo village in Escuintla department, 35 km south of Guatemala City on June 3, 2018, following the eruption of the Fuego Volcano.

At least 25 people were killed when a volcano erupted in Guatemala, sending lava flowing into villages, and leaving homes and roads blanketed with ash.

Authorities fear the death toll could rise further because many people are unaccounted for. President Jimmy Morales has announced three days of mourning.

Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of fire) — one of the most active volcanoes in Central America — is located about 27 miles from Guatemala City.

The death toll rose late Sunday after 18 bodies were found in the community of San Miguel Los Lotes, disaster agency spokesman David de Leon said. Seven people were initially confirmed dead after the volcano erupted soon after noon local time Sunday. At least 20 people were injured.

National Disaster Management Agency chief Sergio Cabañas told local radio that a lava stream changed course to head toward the village of El Rodeo, the BBC reported.

View of the Fuego volcano during what would be the second eruption in 2018 and the strongest in recent years from Alotenango, Guatemala, June 3, 2018.

"Unfortunately El Rodeo was buried and we haven't been able to reach the La Libertad village because of the lava and maybe there are people that died there too," he said.

More than 3,000 people evacuated nearby communities, and the eruption was affecting an area with a population of about 1.7 million people. Shelters were opened for those forced to flee.

Hundreds of rescue workers were helping survivors and recovering bodies from the lava, while some areas were inaccessible as roads were cut off by the flow. Some firefighters were pictured weeping as they left the scene of the destruction.

Videos showed a fast-moving flow destroying a bridge on a highway between Sacatepequez and Escuintla, and barefoot residents covered in muddy residue.

“Not everyone was able to get out. I think they ended up buried,” Consuelo Hernandez, an El Rodeo resident, told the Diario de Centroamerica newspaper.

“Where we saw the lava fall, we ran to a hillside” to escape, she said. </s> GUATEMALA CITY — One of Central America’s most active volcanos erupted in fiery explosions of ash and molten rock Sunday, killing at least six people and injuring 20 while a towering cloud of smoke blanketed nearby villages in heavy ash.

National Disaster Coordinator Sergio Cabanas said an undetermined number of people were missing following the eruption of the Volcan de Fuego, Spanish for “volcano of fire,” which lies 27 miles from Guatemala City.

Cabanas said four people, including a disaster agency official, died when lava set a house on fire in El Rodeo village, and two children were burned to death as they watched the volcano’s second eruption this year from a bridge.

Guatemala’s disaster agency said 3,100 people had evacuated nearby communities, and the eruption was affecting an area with a population of about 1.7 million people. Shelters were opened for those forced to flee.

Ash was falling on the Guatemala City area as well as the departments of Sacatepequez, Chimaltenango and Escuintla, which are in south-central Guatemala around the volcano. Streets and houses were covered in the colonial town of Antigua, a popular tourist destination.

Aviation authorities closed the capital’s international airport because of the danger posed to planes by the ash.

The conical Volcan de Fuego reaches an altitude of 12,346 feet above sea level at its peak.
Mexico's Volcán de Colima erupts forcing the evacuation of two nearby villages.