The latest activity started about two weeks ago and scientists have warned that there could be a major blast at any time. Its strongest burst of activity so far this year. Could intensify its activity during the next hours or days, authorities said. Gritty ash showered nearby towns, including Puebla, a city of 1.2 million people 25 miles east of the crater. More ominous was a small mudslide of volcanic ash down the Huiloac canyon that leads to the town of Santiago Xalitzintla.
Officials consider mudslides of built-up ash one of the gravest dangers posed by the volcano.
The National Center for the Prevention of Disasters said the slide yesterday was probably caused by flows of hot ash from the crater melting part of a glacier near the summit. The slide stopped five miles short of the town. The volcano that towers over the Mexico City region shot rocks and a plume of ash and smoke more than five miles high Monday, alarming people who had been evacuated from nearby villages a month before. The eruption sent rocks flying from the crater and caused a flow of ash three miles down the volcano's canyons. Researchers have measured a sudden increase of small earthquakes on the Mount Fuji Volcano, indicating there is movement of magma underneath.