Guatemalan volcano death toll climbs
Rescuers expect number to grow; bodies covered in ash look like statues
EL RODEO, GUATEMALA— Rescuers pulled survivors and bodies Monday from the charred aftermath of the powerful eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire, as the death toll rose to 65 and was expected to go higher from a disaster that caught residents of remote mountain hamlets off guard, with little or no time to flee.
Guatemala’s disaster agency says in addition to the 65 dead, 46 people were injured. Nearly 2,000 people are in shelters and more than 3,200 were evacuated from the areas near the volcano west of Guatemala City.
Using shovels and backhoes, emergency workers dug through the debris and mud, perilous labour on smouldering terrain still hot enough to melt shoe soles a day after the volcano exploded in a hail of ash, smoke and molten rock.
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.
Hilda Lopez said her mother and sister were still missing after the slurry of hot gas, ash and rock roared into her village of San Miguel Los Lotes, just below the mountain’s flanks.
“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,” the distraught woman said.
“My mother was stuck there, she couldn’t get out,” said Lopez, weeping and holding her face in her hands.
Guatemalan authorities say they had been closely monitoring the Volcano of Fire after activity picked up 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.