Authorities in Guatemala have ordered more than 33,000 people to evacuate communities at the foot of the Volcan del Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, which has begun spewing lava and ash. The volcano lies 16 kilometres southwest of Antigua.
Villagers and farmers living at the foot of a Guatemalan volcano say they were awoken by a massive roar when the long-simmering Volcan del Fuego exploded with a series of eruptions that darkened the skies and covered the surrounding sugar cane fields with ash.
“It thundered and then it got dark as the ash began falling,” said Miriam Curumaco, a 28-year-old homemaker from the village of Morelia who was evacuated along with 16 family members to a makeshift shelter at a nearby elementary school. “It sounded like a pressure cooker that wouldn’t stop.”
As the Volcan del Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, spewed rivers of bright orange lava down its flanks on Thursday, authorities ordered more than 33,000 people in 17 nearby communities evacuated. Many of those near the volcano are indigenous Kakchikeles people who live in relatively poor and isolated communities.
Hundreds of cars, trucks and buses, blanketed with charcoal grey cash, drove away from the volcano, which sits about six miles (16 kilometers) southwest of the colonial city of Antigua, toward the Guatemala city. Thick clouds of ash reduced visibility to less than 10 feet in the area of sugar cane fields surrounding the volcano. The elderly, women and children were evacuated in old school buses and ambulances.
But many people refused to leave their homes, said Jose Martinez, who volunteered the bus he uses as a shuttle at the nearby Grupo Pantaleon sugar cane plantation to move people away from the volcano.
“Some people think that this will pass and others think their things won’t be there when they go back,” Martinez said.
“It thundered and then it got dark as the ash began falling,” said Miriam Curumaco, a 28-year-old homemaker from the village of Morelia who was evacuated along with 16 family members to a makeshift shelter at a nearby elementary school. “It sounded like a pressure cooker that wouldn’t stop.”
As the Volcan del Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, spewed rivers of bright orange lava down its flanks on Thursday, authorities ordered more than 33,000 people in 17 nearby communities evacuated. Many of those near the volcano are indigenous Kakchikeles people who live in relatively poor and isolated communities.But many people refused to leave their homes, said Jose Martinez, who volunteered the bus he uses as a shuttle at the nearby Grupo Pantaleon sugar cane plantation to move people away from the volcano.
“Some people think that this will pass and others think their things won’t be there when they go back,” Martinez said.
A landmark bribery trial starts Thursday in Brazil that could mar the legacy of popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or "Lula" (right). Thirty-eight former ministers, lawmakers and businessmen are charged with buying votes in Congress.
