Guatemala volcano death toll rises to 69
Rescue workers pull more bodies from rubble, more than 1.7 million affected by the disaster
There are missing persons, but we do not know how many. Sergio Cabanas, Guatemala’s disaster management agency
ALOTENANGO, Guatemala: Rescue workers pulled more bodies Monday from under the dust and rubble left by an explosive eruption of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano, bringing the death toll to at least 69.
Of them, 17 have been identified so far, said Fanuel Garcia, head of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences.
In addition, there are 46 people injured, most of them seriously, more than 1.7 million being hit by the disaster, including 3,271 ordered evacuated and 1,787 in shelters in the departments of Escuintla, Sacatepequez and Chimaltenango since Sunday’s eruption.
The 3,763- metre volcano erupted early Sunday, spewing out towering plumes of ash and a hail of fiery rock fragments with scalding mud.
Authorities had warned the death toll could rise after searches resumed for survivors in communities on the mountain’s southern flank.
After an initial toll of 25 dead, it was revised upwards within hours as bodies were recovered from villages razed by the tumbling mud.
“There are missing persons, but we do not know how many,” said Sergio Cabanas of Guatemala’s disaster management agency.
A roll call of communities on the slopes of the volcano was under way.
The speed and ferocity of the eruption took mountain communities by surprise, with many of the dead found in or around their homes.
Cabanas said those who were killed had been overrun by fast- moving burning material discharged by the volcano Sunday. Communities located on its southern slope were the worst hit. Several of the dead were children.
An AFP journalist saw at least three bodies burned in the rubble of the village of San Miguel Los Lotes, where rescue workers, soldiers and police were desperately searching for survivors.
Dead dogs, chickens and ducks also lay among the mud and ash, much of it still smoking.
UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply saddened by the “tragic loss of life and the significant damage caused by the eruption,” and said the UN was ready to assist nat iona l rescue and relief efforts. President Jimmy Morales, who has declared three days of national mourning, visited the disaster zone.
“The volcano has erupted before, but never like this,” said Gustavo Larius, a 27-year- old bricklayer searching the streets of his village for missing family and friends, a handkerchief pressed over his mouth and nose.
The eruption sent ash billowing over the surrounding area, turning plants and trees gray and blanketing streets, cars and people.
Farmers covered in ash fled for their lives as civil defence workers tried to relocate them to shelters.
“This time we were saved; in another (eruption) no,” said Efrain Gonzalez, 52, sitting on the floor of a shelter in the city of Escuintla, where he arrived with his wife and one-year-old daughter.
Dense ash blasted out by the volcano shut down Guatemala City’s international airport, civil aviation officials said.
The eruption ended after 16.5 hours, but “there is a likelihood that it will reactivate” warned the Institute of Volcanology.