Ecuador evacuates thousands of people, closes airports due to volcanic eruption

Volcanic ash blanket Guayaquil,Ecuador, May 28, 2010. Ecuador's Secretariat of Risk Management (SNGR) ordered on Friday the evacuation of thousands of people living at the bottom of Tungurahua Volcano, central of the country, which earlier registered a new eruption and ash emission. (Xinhua/Santiago Armas)

Ecuadorian authorities on Friday closed the airport in the country's largest and most populated city Guayaquil and ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents due to a volcanic eruption in the South American country.

Earlier, the General Direction of Civil Aviation (DAC) halted the domestic flight between Quito and Cuenca and the international flight between Lima and Quito due to the ash emission of the Tungurahua Volcano.

The DAC said in a statement that the airports were closed for operational security, but there are alternative routes for the planes to take off or land without problem.

Ecuador's National Geophysics Institute said ash plumes soared 10 kilometers above the volcano.

The Secretariat of Risk Management (SNGR) on Friday ordered the evacuation of thousands of people living at the bottom of the Tungurahua Volcano in central Ecuador, which earlier registered a new eruption and ash emission.

The people living in towns nearby the volcano including Juive Grande, Cusua, Cotalo, Bilbao, and Chacauco in the west side of the volcano were evacuated, the SNGR said in a statement.

The area near the volcano is cloudy due to the ash columns and the lava coming from the Tungurahua Volcano.

The eruption took place at 8:47 a.m. local time (1347 GMT) Friday and was considered as "complicated." Rescue teams went to the affected areas immediately after the SNGR issued an alert at 9:30 a.m. local time (1430 GMT).

The director of the National Geophysics Institute, Hugo Yepez, said the ash cloud is heading southwest, so the ash cloud could also affect the coastal zones in the north of Guayaquil.

The Tungurahua Volcano is of 5,016 meters above sea level and located 135 km south to Quito. It began its eruptive process in 1999.

Source: Xinhua