Guatemala’s Fuego Volcano Explodes—Almost 200 Missing, 75 Dead

6/6/2018
Updated:
9/27/2018

Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupted on Sunday and again on Tuesday, with almost 192 people missing and 75 dead.

The Fuego volcano’s largest eruption in 40 years happened on Sunday.

The ash blasted 33,000 feet (10 km) into the air according to CONRED, the country’s natural disaster agency and the temperature of the lava flow reached about 1,300 Fahrenheit according to Eddy Sanchez, director of the country’s Seismology and Volcanology Institute.

Secondary eruptions occurred on Tuesday with moderate explosions occurring eight to 10 times per hour.
CONRED said the evacuation of 3,000 people had been completed and the falling ash has affected approximately 1.7 million in a country with 15 million people.
Boris Rodriguez may never feel the warmth of a loved one ever again. He saw his children’s bodies huddled together in bed like they were hiding. His children, wife, her parents, his brother and sister-in-law died when the volcano erupted.

Rodriguez’s story would be particularly tragic if he were alone in the losses he suffered, but his was just one of many.

After Francisco Quiche evacuated the area, he returned to look for his children. He looked through a hole in the wall only to see the body of his dead son, he fears that his daughter-in-law shares the same fate.

His son and daughter-in-law were 22 years old, they were expecting a baby.

The Guatemala National Police tweeted a video showing a baby girl being saved from a home that had been destroyed by the volcano.

Although residents have been trained for emergency situations involving volcanic eruptions, the eruption that occurred on Sunday happened too fast. Most people were unable to escape the rapidly moving pyroclastic flows that swallowed El Rodeo and San Miguel Los Lotes. BBC reported.
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