Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 6 June 2018

Only a few of Guatemala volcano's dead have been identified

By SONIA PEREZ D Authorities scrambled
EL RODEO, Guatemala (AP) to issue an evacuation
— People of the villages order. Some communities
skirting Guatemala's emptied out safely. But in
Volcano of Fire have begun places like Los Lotes and the
mourning the few dead village of El Rodeo, about
who could be identified eight miles (12 kilometers)
after an eruption killed downslope from the crater,
dozens by engulfing them it was too late for many.
in floods of searing ash and The fast-moving flows
mud. overtook people in
Mourners cried over homes and streets with
caskets lined up in a row in temperatures reaching
the main park of San Juan as high as 1,300 degrees
Alotenango on Monday Fahrenheit (700 Celsius),
evening before rescuers and hot ash and volcanic
stopped their work for gases that can cause rapid
another night. asphyxiation.
There was no electricity in "As soon as we received
the hardest hit areas of Los the information around
Lotes and El Rodeo, so most 6 a.m. that the volcano
searching continued only was in an eruptive phase,
until sunset. As dawn broke the protocol was initiated
Tuesday, the volcano to verify with different
continued to rattle, sectors and also talk to the
with what the country's Boris Rodriguez, 24, who is searching for his wife, cries after seeing the condition of his communities, to community
volcanology institute said neighborhood, destroyed by the erupting Volcan de Fuego, or "Volcano of Fire," in Escuintla, leaders," De Leon said.
were eight to 10 moderate Guatemala, Monday, June 4, 2018. "We had the information
eruptions per hour — vastly Associated Press from our scientific service,
less intense than Sunday's and they told us the trend
big blasts. housing 1,877 people. Hilda Lopez said her mother Gonzalez, said his father was that the activity was
Guatemalan authorities Sunday's eruption caught and sister were still missing had also been unable to diminishing." In El Rodeo
put the death toll at 69, residents of remote after the slurry of hot gas, escape and was believed on Monday, heavily armed
but officials said just 17 mountain hamlets off ash and rock roared into to be "buried back there, soldiers wearing blue masks
had been identified so guard, with little or no time her village of San Miguel at the house." to avoid breathing in ash
far because the intense to flee to safety. Los Lotes, just below the Conred spokesman David stood guard behind yellow
heat of the volcanic debris Using shovels and mountain's flanks. de Leon said the volcano tape cordoning off the
flows left most bodies backhoes, emergency "We were at a party, first erupted around disaster scene. Helmeted
unrecognizable. workers dug through the celebrating the birth of midday Sunday, billowing workers carried bodies
"It is very difficult for us to debris and mud, perilous a baby, when one of the smoke and ash miles into away on stretchers, and
identify them because labor on smoldering terrain neighbors shouted at us the sky. Then around 2 smoke was still rising from
some of the dead lost their still hot enough to melt to come out and see the p.m., came a new, more some parts of the ashen
features or their fingerprints" shoe soles a day after the lava that was coming," the powerful explosion. landscape strewn with
from the red-hot flows, said volcano exploded in a hail distraught woman said. Soon, searing flows of boulders and other debris.
Fanuel Garcia, director of ash, smoke and molten "We didn't believe it, and lava, ash and rock mixed President Jimmy Morales
of the National Institute of rock. when we went out the hot with water and debris traveled to survey the
Forensic Sciences. "We are Bodies were so thickly mud was already coming were gushing down the disaster area.
going to have to resort to coated with ash that they down the street." volcano's flanks, blocking Emergency crews in
other methods ... and if looked like statues. Rescuers "My mother was stuck roads and burning homes. helicopters managed to
possible take DNA samples used sledgehammers to there, she couldn't get "It traveled much faster. It pull at least 10 people
to identify them." break through the roofs of out," said Lopez, weeping arrived in communities right alive from areas cut off
Authorities say at least houses buried in debris up and holding her face in her when the evacuation alerts by the flows. Conred said
46 people were injured. to their rooflines to check hands. were being sent out," de 3,271 people had been
Twelve shelters were for anyone trapped inside. Her husband, Joel Leon said. evacuated.q