Guatemala volcano: Death toll reaches at least 62 after Fuego erupts
Entire communities unaccounted for as some areas still burning, say authorities
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Rescuers have pulled survivors and bodies from the charred aftermath of the powerful eruption of Guatemala's Volcan de Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, with the death toll rose to 62 and set to increase.
The head of of Guatemala's National Forensic Sciences Institute reported the latest death toll, after the volcano erupted on Sunday, engulfing homes in three villages in the central American country and cutting off several communities from aid.
The disaster caught residents of remote mountain hamlets off guard, with little or no time to flee to safety and whole villages remain unaccounted for. Thirteen of the victims have so far been identified, with hundreds of others left injured..
As Guatemalan authorities dealt with rescue operations Israel said it had delivered food, blankets and medicine through its embassy.
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Bodies were so thickly coated with ash that they looked like statues, and rescuers were forced to use sledgehammers to break through the roofs of houses buried in debris up to their rooflines to try to see if anyone was trapped inside.
“It is very difficult for us to identify them because some of the dead lost their features or their fingerprints” from the red-hot flows, Fanuel Garcia, director of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences said. “We are going to have to resort to other methods ... and if possible take DNA samples to identify them.”
Guatemalan authorities say they had been closely monitoring the Volcano of Fire, one of Central America's most active, after activity picked up around 6am Sunday.
The volcano has registered a number of minor eruptions over the years, and no evacuations were ordered as scientific experts reported the activity was decreasing.
Guatemala's disaster agency, Conred, issued a number of standard precautions, advising people to wear protective face masks, clean their rooftops of ash once the eruption was over and cover any food and water intended for human consumption. It also said to heed any recommendations from authorities. Guatemala City's international airport was closed due to the danger to planes.
Conred spokesman David de Leon said that around 2pm the volcano registered a new, more powerful explosion.
Soon, searing flows of lava, ash and rock mixed with water and debris were gushing down the volcano's flanks, blocking roads and burning homes.
“It travelled much faster. It arrived in communities right when the evacuation alerts were being sent out,” de Leon said.
Authorities scrambled to issue an evacuation order. Some communities emptied out safely. But in places like Los Lotes and the village of El Rodeo, about eight miles downslope from the crater, it was too late for many.
Associated Press
Efrain Gonzalez, who fled the village of El Rodeo with his wife and one-year-old daughter, told the BBC he had had to leave behind his two older children, aged four and ten, trapped in the family home
Hilda Lopez said the volcanic mud swept into her village of San Miguel Los Lotes, just below the mountain's flanks. She still doesn't know where her mother or her sister are.
“We were at a party, celebrating the birth of a baby, when one of the neighbours shouted at us to come out and see the lava that was coming,” she told the Associated Press. “We didn't believe it, and when we went out the hot mud was already coming down the street.”
Local resident Ricardo Reyes was forced to abandon his home: “The only thing we could do was run with my family and we left our possessions in the house. Now that all the danger has passed, I came to see how our house was - everything is a disaster.”
The Authorities have said they feared the death toll could rise with an undetermined number of people unaccounted for. The disaster agency said 3,265 people had been evacuated.
Among the fatalities were four people, including a disaster agency official, killed when lava set a house on fire in El Rodeo, National Disaster Coordinator Sergio Cabanas said. Two children were burned to death as they watched the volcano's second eruption this year from a bridge, he added.
The eruption showered sand and ash on coffee plants across as much as 6,890 acres (2,788 hectares), including close to the volcano's cone, causing an estimated loss of 0.91 per cent of Guatemala'ss coffee production, the country'ss national coffee association has said.
The head of Guatemala's National Forensic Sciences Institute has said at least 62 people are dead following the volcano eruption, with 13 of them having been identified.
First responders in helicopters managed to pull at least 10 people alive from ash drifts and mud flows that were up to the rooflines of some homes, forcing rescuers to use sledgehammers to break through the roofs to see if anyone was trapped inside.
Residents of El Rodeo, about eight miles down-slope from the crater, said they were caught unaware by the fast-moving hot ash and rock when the volcano west of Guatemala City exploded on Sunday, sending towering clouds into the air.
Searing flows of ash mixed with water and debris gushed down the volcano's flanks, blocking roads and burning homes
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