Volcano death toll soars as Guatemala mourns

62 dead: People unable to escape tide of mud and 700C ash

The death toll from the eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire has risen to 62, with rescuers expecting to find more bodies in the charred landscape.

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 fastmoving 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.

Hilda Lopez said the volcanic mud swept into her village of San Miguel Los Lotes, just below the mountain’s flanks, and she did not know where her mother and sister were.

“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.

“We didn’t believe it, and when we went out the hot mud was already coming down the street.”

“My mother was stuck there, she couldn’t get out,” said Ms Lopez, weeping and holding her face in her hands.

Her husband, Joel Gonzalez, said his father had been unable to escape and was believed to be “buried back there, at the house”.

At least 62 people were confirmed dead, according to Fanuel Garcia, director of the National Institute of Forensic Science. At least another 200 are missing. All came from the hamlets of Los Lotes and El Rodeo, but only 13 had been identified so far because the flows that reached temperatures as high as 1,300F (700C) had disfigured the bodies.

“We’re having a lot of trouble identifying them because some of the dead lost their features or their fingerprints. We’re going to have to use other anthropological methods and if possible take DNA samples to identify them,” he said.

In the village of El Rodeo, heavily armed soldiers wearing blue masks to ward off the dust stood guard behind yellow tape cordons.

A group of residents arrived at the scene with shovels and work boots.

Some residents said they never learned of the danger until it was upon them – and were critical of authorities.

The country’s disaster agency “never told us to leave. When the lava was already here they passed by in their pickup trucks yelling at us to leave, but the cars did not stop to pick up the people,” said Rafael Letran, a resident of El Rodeo.

Picture: AP. Men carry a body near Volcan de Fuego, or “Volcano of Fire”, in Escuintla.

The volcano west of Guatemala City exploded on Sunday, sending clouds of ash miles into the air.