Thousands flee as Philippine volcano erupts, spews toxic gas

World

Published: 2021-07-03 14:17

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 07:05


Credit: AFP
Credit: AFP

Over 2,000 people have fled from a volcano eruption that has filled the air near the Philippine capital with toxic gas, according to officials Saturday.

A provincial disaster official Joselito Castro told AFP that at least 2,400 people have left their homes since the government called for evacuations of hamlets on the lake’s shores.

“We expect more residents to evacuate over the coming days,” Castro said.

The Philippine seismological agency called Thursday for the evacuation of thousands of people from homes near a volcano south of Manila after an eruption sent steam and rock fragments hundreds of meters into the sky.

Taal volcano, which sits in a picturesque lake, has been belching sulphur dioxide for several days, creating a thick haze over the capital and several surrounding provinces, and prompting health warnings.

The last eruption in January 2020 shot ash 15 kilometers high and spewed red-hot lava, crushing scores of homes, killing livestock and sending over 135,000 people into shelters.

Taal burst to life again Thursday afternoon with a "short-lived dark phreatomagmatic plume" that rose a kilometer into the air, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.

That was followed by "four short phreatomagmatic bursts" that produced 200-meter-high plumes above the main crater lake, it said in a later update.

The agency warned of "ongoing magmatic extrusion at the Main Crater that may further drive succeeding explosions", as it raised the alert level from two to three.

It "strongly recommends" the evacuation of the volcano island and "high-risk" areas of Agoncillo and Laurel towns.

"We're just raising the alert because something is happening and it can lead to a higher activity," Renato Solidum, head of the agency, told AFP.


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