Volcano Villarrica erupts in Chile

Volcano Villarrica in southern Chile erupted in the early hours of yesterday, sending a plume of ash and lava high into the sky, and forcing the evacuation of nearby communities.

The volcano, located near the popular tourist resort of Pucon around 750km south of the capital Santiago, is one of South America’s most active. It last erupted in 2000.

A column of ash and rock particles shot up to 3km into the night sky at around 3am, said the national geological service Sernageomin.

Some 3,385 people had been evacuated as a preventative measure, said Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo.

After day broke yesterday morning, TV pictures showed intermittent steam and gases spewing from a fumarole, or opening, on a side of the volcano and rivulets of lava coursing down the mountain slopes.

The eruption is a ‘stromboli eruption’, an event of relatively low impact characterized by low volumes of material reaching an altitude of less than 5km, said Sernageomin.

Ash from the volcano was for now well under the flight paths used by commercial airliners, and flights were unaffected, said Juan Carlos Rojas, air transit head at the government’s civil aeronautics division.

Chile, situated on the Pacific Rim of Fire, has the second largest chain of volcanoes in the world after Indonesia, including around 500 potentially active.

Reuters