Sawt Falasteen - Guatemalan volcano eruption ends, locals return home

Central America's most active volcano began spitting lava and ash on Monday, forcing over 1,700 people to flee the area.

Activity at the crater, located 35 kilometers (22 miles) away from Guatemala City, officially ended two days later, according to national experts.

"After 50 hours...the eruption has ended," the insitute stated, recommending that precautions remain in place due to large quantities of ash and possible deluges of burning debris.

Guatemalan emergency services declared it safe for evacuated residents to go home after the eruption died down.

"It is now safe to return," Conred emergency services director Claudine Ogaldes told a press conference.

"We are no longer asking people to evacuate," she said, urging communities to "take precautions, because at any moment it could erupt again."

An emergency services spokesperson earlier stated that some evacuees had already voluntarily returned to their homes.

From Monday onwards, lava had spewed down Fuego's slopes, while plumes of ash rose up to six kilometers high into the red sky.

Terrifying scenes of lava rivers pushed hundreds of locals to seek refuge in Escuintla, to the south of Fuego.

From the small city on Wednesday, the volcano appeared calm and emitted only faint whispers of gas and ash, an AFP journalist observed.

Local farmer Bernabe Marroquin described the situation as normal for him and his fellow residents.

"We live alongside the volcano. We know when it gets angry and when it's calm," the 61-year-old told AFP.

Conred earlier declared the most severe danger alert in the Escuintla, Sacatepequez, and Chimaltenango departments adjacent to the crater.

Guatemala lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

There have been several mass evacuations in recent years because Fuego erupted.

Authorities evacuated more than 500 people last year after Fuego spewed gas and ash, while another eruption in 2023 pushed around 1,200 people to flee.

In 2018, 215 people were killed and a similar number left missing when rivers of lava poured down Fuego's slopes and destroyed a village.

H.Darwish--SF-PST