Guatemala City, June 4 (IBNS): At least seven people were killed as Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupted on Sunday for the second time this year, media reports said.
The incident left 20 others injured.
The volcanic eruption spewed a river of red, hot lava and belched thick clouds of smoke nearly six miles into the air, according to the CONRED, the government's national coordinator for disaster reduction, reported CNN.
The explosion stands to affect 1.7 million people, Sergio García Cabañas, director of CONRED, was quoted as saying by CNN.
So far, 3100 people have been rescued.
Rescue operation is still going on.
PNC Guatemala tweeted: "#PNCProtegerYServir Dozens of families continue to be evacuated by our outstanding police personnel in Escuintla and Sacatepéquez. Many children are taken in arms or loaded on the backs of our agents to then walk for several miles to make them safe."
#PNCProtegerYServir Elementos de nuestra Policía Nacional Civil continúan en la búsqueda y rescate de personas que han resultado damnificadas por el #VolcánDeFuego en la aldea El Rodeo en Escuintla. Hasta el momento han rescatado a niños y adultos pic.twitter.com/JxOdkl0xih
— PNC Guatemala (@PNCdeGuatemala) June 4, 2018
The Guatemalan Army shared images on their Twitter handle where officers could be seen clearing the runway with push brooms.
Elementos de la Primera Brigada de Policía Militar "Guardia de Honor", realizan limpieza en la pista de aterrizaje del Aeropuerto Internacional "La Aurora", afectada por la caída de ceniza volcánica.#365DíasAlServicioDeMiPatria pic.twitter.com/nnnd0ULA1u
— Ejército Guatemala (@Ejercito_GT) June 4, 2018
Guatemala Jimmy Morales said national emergency system has been alerted following the eruption.
"Eruption of #VolcánDeFuego. There will be a press conference at 6:00 pm, please be pending, the national emergency system has already been called," he tweeted.
Image: PNC Guatemala Twitter page
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
