GUATEMALA: Guate­malan authorities evacuated more than 1,000 people and closed a road as Central America’s most active volcano erupted on Thursday, spewing thick clouds of ash over farms and towns not far from the capital city.

Civil protection official Oscar Cossio said 1,054 people had been evacuated from five communities near the foot of the volcano, and moved to a sports hall for shelter.

He said that number was likely to rise as a full accounting of the evacuees was carried out.

Guatemala’s Conred disaster centre said the volcano named Fuego, Spanish for “fire,” was sending out “pyroclastic flows” — a high-temperature mix of gas, ash and rock fragments “which descend with great speed down the flanks of the volcanic complex.” The ash column ejected by Fuego reached more than some 19,000 feet above sea level.

Conred said ash was falling to the west and southwest of the volcano, in a direction away from the capital Guatemala City, which is 35 kilometres to the northeast.

Stronger emissions could follow as the “high level” eruption continues, and it warned that with rainfall forecast, mudslides could form.

Conred official Rodolfo Garcia estimated that 130,000 people live within areas exposed to falling ash, which came down as far as 100 kilometres from the crater. He said 13 emergency shelters had opened in four nearby towns, capable of providing refuge to 7,600 people.

The authorities opted to close the RN-14 route on the slopes of the volcano that connects several towns to the colonial city of Antigua, the country’s main tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It advised those living in areas at risk of the ash cloud to carefully follow any instruction from the authorities, and urged locals and tourists to avoid a restricted area of seven kilometres around the volcano.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2023