GUATEMALA 5th May 2023 (WAM). The Guatemalan authorities evacuated over 1000 people, and closed the road, as Central America’s largest active volcano erupted, spewing thick clouds ash across farms and towns near the capital.

Oscar Cossio, a civil protection official, said that 1,054 residents of five communities at the foothills of the volcano had been evacuated and taken to a sports center for shelter.

He said that the number of evacuees is likely to increase as the full count is done.

Guatemala’s Conred Disaster Centre said that the volcano “Fuego”, Spanish word for “fire”, was sending out “pyroclastic flow” – high-temperature mixture of gas, rock fragments and ash “which descends with great speed along the flanks.”

Fuego ejected a column of ash that reached 6,000 meters above sea level.

The “high-level” eruption could continue, and the forecast rain could cause mudslides.