Evacuees return home after Guatemala volcano dies down–official

A plume of ash and smoke rises from the Fuego volcano as seen from Alotenango, Guatemala, on May 5, 2023. AFP

GUATEMALA CITY — Some 1,200 people evacuated from towns near a major volcano not far from Guatemala City were able to return home on Saturday, two days after a brief eruption, the authorities said.

The 3,760-meter (12,335-foot) volcano Fuego, Central America’s most active, had erupted early Thursday, spewing gas, lava and rock fragments.

People were evacuated by bus from seven nearby towns, many of them carrying just a few belongings. Most of the evacuees were taken to temporary shelters in the town of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa.

But by Friday, Fuego — Spanish for “fire” — had calmed down, allowing people to begin returning home, said Rodolfo Garcia, spokesman for Guatemala’s Coordinating Agency for Disaster Reduction (Conred).

“Thank God we have no injured or dead to report,” Conred executive director Oscar Cossio said Friday.

Vehicular traffic was again being allowed on a section of the RN-14 road — protectively closed on Thursday — that links the area to the colonial city of Antigua, an important tourist destination and a Unesco World Heritage site.

Fuego erupts every four to five years on average.

An eruption in December forced Guatemalan authorities to temporarily close the country’s largest airport.

And in 2018, an eruption sent rivers of lava pouring down Fuego’s sides, devastating the village of San Miguel Los Lotes, killing 215 people and leaving a similar number missing.

RELATED STORIES

Guatemala volcano eruption eases after forcing airport closure

Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano erupts, officials warn of burning projectiles