The Fuego volcano, located 35 km from Guatemala’s capital, is registering launches of columns of gas, ash, and rocks, reported the institute of volcanology this Saturday, which asked nearby communities and air navigation to remain alert. The “weak to moderate” explosions occur at a frequency of 15 or more per hour and “produce columns of gas and ash” reaching heights of up to 4,800 meters above sea level, according to the Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology (Insivumeh).
The volcano, standing at 3,763 meters in height, is expelling dark ash and “abundant rock fragments,” with rumbling sounds audible in nearby localities, according to the official report. In recent months and the first days of this year, the volcano, located southwest of Guatemala City, experienced changes “in style and quantity of explosions,” it specified.
Some nights and early mornings, it has expelled “incandescent material” that fell in the surroundings of the crater, the organization noted. Within a 200-meter radius around the crater, large rocks are falling, and at 1 km, “rocks of up to 50 centimeters in diameter” could fall in the ‘La Meseta’ area, visited by tourists, it warned.
Insimuveh asked residents of nearby communities to “remain alert” and recommended that the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics take precautions with air traffic due to ash dispersion by winds. Authorities ordered tourism agencies and guides not to allow tourists to approach certain zones due to falling rocks that can cause injuries and burns.
The Fuego volcano caused an avalanche of burning material in 2018, which devastated a community and left 215 dead and a similar number of missing persons.
