Volcanic Eruption Spouts High-Temperature Gas at 100 km/h: Will the Nightmare of the 2018 Red Alert Repeat?

Deep in the night, the crater spews glowing red flames.

A massive amount of volcanic ash also surges into the sky.

On the 3rd local time, the Fuego Volcano, a major active volcano in the Central American country of Guatemala, erupted.

[Julia Dondiego / Nearby Resident: For a while, there was no sound, but then the red lava went all the way down there. Now that the path for it to flow is completely cleared, it is truly terrifying.]

The volcanic ash and gas spewed by the Fuego Volcano, which stands at an elevation of 3,763 meters, soared up to 6,000 meters into the air.

The greatest threat is the pyroclastic flow pouring down the mountain slopes.

Because a mix of high-temperature gas, ash, and rock fragments rushes down at speeds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, it causes much more lethal damage than lava, which moves relatively slowly.

[William Francisco Cigna Yuque / Volcano Prevention Officer, Disaster Prevention Agency: Lava surged up to a height of 500 meters and flowed down the mountain. This eruption is at a serious level because it generated pyroclastic flows in all ravines.]

Authorities issued a red alert, the highest disaster tier, for three provinces in the region where 1.6 million people reside.

While about 1,000 residents urgently evacuated to shelters, major nearby roads were controlled and school closures were ordered in surrounding areas.

[Claudine Ogaldes / Director, Guatemalan Disaster Prevention Agency: We upgraded the alert level to red because the evacuation of residents is absolutely necessary.]

Located about 40 kilometers southwest of the capital, Guatemala City, the Fuego Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in Central America.

In June 2018, a large-scale pyroclastic flow instantly engulfed villages, resulting in a major disaster that killed over 200 people and affected 1.7 million others.

(Reported by Gwak Sang-eun | Video edited by Choi Hye-young | Design by Seo Seung-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.