More than 700 people have been evacuated from central Guatemala due to an ongoing eruption of the Fuego volcano, according to an announcement today by the country’s disaster response agency, CONRED.
The volcano, located about 18 kilometers from the city of Antigua, is emitting ash plumes reaching approximately 4.8 kilometers high and a lava flow accumulating around its crater, according to Guatemala’s seismological agency INSIVUMEH. In a report released shortly after midnight on Friday, INSIVUMEH stated that the lava flow appears to extend about 1.2 kilometers in length.
“It continues to accumulate in an unstable manner around the crater and the upper parts of the ravines, which could collapse and trigger further pyroclastic flows,” the report noted.
It is worth mentioning that Fuego volcano is known for its frequent activity. In June 2018, its most violent eruption in about four decades killed more than 200 people.
