Guatemala: Volcano of Fire Eruption leaves at least 69 dead

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It is a river of lava that went out of its channel and affected the village El Rodeo, there are people injured, burned and killed, "say the authorities of Guatemala, which is the worst eruption of the Volcán de Fuego in the last 44 years

Guatemala city. Rescuers continue the search for the disappeared after the powerful eruption of the Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala, which left at least 69 dead and thousands evacuated, according to the latest official assessment offered by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences.

If this time we are saved, in another (eruption), "said Efraín González, 52, who was sitting on the floor of a shelter in the city of Escuintla, where he arrived with his wife and their one-year-old daughter. Transfers from the ravages caused by the volcano in his house in the community of El Rodeo, the most hit by the eruption.

The so-called Donor Group, made up of Germany, Canada, Spain, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, France, the European Union as well as the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States and the UN system in Guatemala expressed their solidarity and support to overcome the tragedy.

Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras offered assistance to the country to face the contingency.

The rain of ash caused by the volcano led to the closure of operations at the only international airport in Guatemala City initially for 24 hours, said the State General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics.

The Fuego volcano, located between Escuintla, Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango, had generated its first eruption in 2018 last January.

This volcano triggered the last eruption emergency in the country in September 2012, causing the evacuation of some 10,000 inhabitants settled in villages south of the colossus.

In Guatemala, the volcanoes Santiaguito (west) and Pacaya (20 km south of the capital) are also active.

The worst eruption in 44 years

"This is the largest eruption since 1974, we have had constant eruptions but not of this dimension, in this have fallen to eight kilometers of lava of great magnitude," Gustavo Chigna, expert of the National Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, told local media .

"The eruption continues, stays and the activity can be maintained for a few more hours and entering the night will be extremely dangerous because there is no way to evacuate or look at the roads," he warned.

Huge plumes of smoke, added to the explosions and the rain of ashes that the volcano launched in four departments of Guatemala, kept the po[CENSORED]tion alert.