The most active volcano in Central America began a new eruptive phase on Saturday 11 December. If civil protection has not ordered preventive evacuations for the moment, it remains attentive.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The eruption of the Fuego volcano, Guatemala, led to the closure for a few hours of the country’s main airport on Sunday, announced the authorities.
The Fuego, 3,763 meters high and located about 35 kilometers from Capital Guatemala City, started a new eruptive phase on Saturday evening, accompanied by explosions, lava flows and ash projections, announced the Institute national volcanology.
The Aurora International Airport of the Guatemalan capital has been “temporarily” closed in the middle of the morning, the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said in a statement, due to “the presence of ashes” near the track.
He resumed his activities three hours later, around noon (6:00 p.m. GMT), said the director of civil aeronautics, Francis Argueta. “We have decided to resume operations because a wind from north to south” dispersed the ashes, said Mr. Argueta in a video published on social networks.
Two diverted flights
The closure resulted in the confusion of at least two flights which were to land at Aurora, one from Miami (United States) and the other from Santo Domingo, and delayed the takeoff of Other planes, according to aeronautical sources.
In addition, a highway connecting the south and the center of the country was closed on Sunday due to the eruption of the Fuego volcano (literally: “Fire volcano”), the most active volcano in Central America.
The eruption maintains an “incandescent fountain” of lava over 300 meters above the crater and a column of ash which rises more than two kilometers, according to the Institute of Volcanology, which also put In custody against new avalanches of burning materials.
215 dead in 2018
Civil protection has not ordered preventive evacuations but remains attentive, told AFP its spokesperson Rodolfo García.
On June 3, 2018, the Fuego had caused an avalanche of fiery materials which had swept the city of San Miguel Los Lotes and covered part of a road, killing 215 dead and a similar number of missing.
“With what happened in 2018, the authorities are more alert and more active,” said José Sul, another resident of Alotenango.
Two other volcanoes are also active in Guatemala: Santiaguito (west) and Pacaya, 20 km south of the capital.