300 evacuated from Ecuador volcano
© 2006 The Associated Press
QUITO, Ecuador — Lava and ash erupted from an Ecuadoran volcano and forced the evacuation of about 300 villagers, a local mayor said Thursday.
An eruption two months ago of the Tungurahua volcano killed four people and left two others missing and still unaccounted for.
"We were able to take them out last night from the most dangerous zones located on the flanks where the explosions occurred Aug. 16," said Juan Salazar, mayor of Penipe, 12 miles from the volcano.
The upper slopes of the volcano have been mostly deserted since August. But Salazar said about 80 families had returned to attempt to farm in the ash-encrusted ground.
"They saw incandescent rocks coming down on the slopes and so they evacuated," he said. No injuries were reported.
In addition to the casualties, nearly 5,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and tens of thousands of acres of pasture and crops were also destroyed in the August eruption, according to the Civil Defense.
Experts have warned that renewed explosions could come any time from the 16,575-foot volcano located about 85 miles south of the capital, Quito.
"What we have seen now is evidence that something there could be something similar to the episodes in July and August," said Hugo Yepes, director of Ecuador's Geophysics Institute. "Inside the ground there is a chamber of magma much larger than the volcano itself."
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