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Mayon Volcano Erupts Again
A volcano erupted with lava and towering columns of ash in the central Philippines early Thursday, forcing thousands of residents to flee as it rained pebbles and mud, scientists said.
The Mayon volcano spewed lava 200 feet and ash clouds six miles into the air, said volcanologist Julio Sabit. He said the "big explosion" at 7:56 a.m. was the second this month by the mountain.
School children in his village screamed and fled after the explosion. Panicked villagers streamed down the mountainside, many of them crowding roads with private vehicles.
Sabit said scientists first learned of an imminent eruption from sudden lava flows and started an evacuation less than four hours before the explosion.
Rain in nearby Legazpi city turned to mud as it mixed with the ash clouds, blackening the streets of the provincial capital and darkening the skies.
Scientists said ground-hugging clouds of ash and rock fragments, known as pyroclastic flows, sped down Mayon's slope early Thursday but no damage was reported.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised alert levels around the volcano and began evacuating several villages at its foot.
Less than two weeks earlier, evacuees had returned home following the previous eruption.
Mayon last erupted June 24, forcing 50,000 people from their homes. The volcano has erupted at least 47 times since 1616. An ash mud flow buried a town and killed 1,200 people in the worst known eruption in 1814.
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