“We saw bodies totally, totally buried, like you saw in Pompeii,” said Dr. Otto Mazariegos, president of the Association of Municipal and Departmental Firefighters, who added that the death toll was expected to rise, “Probably in the hundreds.”
Rescue workers have been unable to reach sites on the south side of the volcano due to a lack of access.
Over 3,000 people have been evacuated, and 1,689 found space in shelters in neighboring Escuintla and Alotenango, while 46 were taken to the hospital – many with severe burns.
President Jimmy Morales declared three days of mourning before touring shelters and the disaster area. A weeping woman, Eufemia García, approached his van as he left the buried village of El Rodeo and Morales got out to listen:
“Mr. President, my family is missing … Send a helicopter to drop water from above because it is burning there. I have three children, a grandchild, all my brothers and sisters, my mother — more than 20 are missing.”
'No Survivors': Guatemala Volcano Buries Entire Village
Rescue workers have been unable to reach sites on the south side of the volcano due to a lack of access.
Over 3,000 people have been evacuated, and 1,689 found space in shelters in neighboring Escuintla and Alotenango, while 46 were taken to the hospital – many with severe burns.
President Jimmy Morales declared three days of mourning before touring shelters and the disaster area. A weeping woman, Eufemia García, approached his van as he left the buried village of El Rodeo and Morales got out to listen:
“Mr. President, my family is missing … Send a helicopter to drop water from above because it is burning there. I have three children, a grandchild, all my brothers and sisters, my mother — more than 20 are missing.”
'No Survivors': Guatemala Volcano Buries Entire Village
