Rescuers, some using their bare hands, combed mud-stricken villages on the slopes of the Philippines’ Mayon volcano today, five days after a typhoon left a trail of destruction estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people.

The Mayon volcano in the Philippines appeared ready to blow its top today as six explosions sent ash columns up to a half-mile high and led officials to evacuate tens of thousands of people from an extended danger zone.

An erupting central Philippine volcano could shoot ground-hugging columns of ash and rock again today, authorities warned, as villagers returned to check their mountainside homes.

A simmering volcano erupted spectacularly in the central Philippines today, jetting fountains of lava, spewing car-sized rocks and shaking the ground more than eight miles away.

Lava flowed a mile down the side of one of the most active volcanos in the Philippines today, as scientists met to decide if it was about to erupt.