Gory Kilauea injury

Man’s leg ‘shattered’ by molten rock

A volcano that is spewing magma on Hawaii’s Big Island has gotten more hazardous in recent days, with rivers of molten rock flowing into the ocean and flying lava causing the first major injury.

Kilauea began erupting more than two weeks ago and has burned dozens of homes, forced people to flee and shot up plumes of steam from its summit, leading officials to distribute face masks to protect against ash.

Lava flows have sped up as fresher and older magma mix, creating hotter and more fluid flows, scientists said.

On Saturday, molten rock hit a man in the leg. He was outside his home in the rural region affected by the volcano when the lava “hit him on the shin, and shattered everything from there down on his leg,” Janet Snyder, Hawaii County mayor’s spokes- woman, told the Hawaii News Now TV station.

Lava that’s sent flying through the air from cracks in the Earth can weigh as much as a refrigerator, and even small pieces can be lethal.

The injury came the same day lava streamed across a highway and flowed into the ocean, sending hydrochloric acid and steam with fine glass particles into the air.

The phenomenon can cause lung damage and eye and skin irritation, the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency said.

The highway has shut down in some spots, and residents were evacuated.

Scientists can’t say whether lava flows from nearly two dozen fissures will keep advancing or stop.

“We have no way of knowing whether this is really the beginning or toward the end of this eruption,” said Tom Shea, a volcanologist at the University of Hawaii. “We’re kind of all right now in this world of uncertainty.”