Time running out to find survivors of volcanic eruption in Guatemala

Thousands of people displaced by the eruption have sought refuge in shelters, many of them of with dead or missing loved ones and facing an uncertain future, unable to return to homes destroyed by the volcano.

Thick grey ash covering the stricken region was hardened by rainfall, making it even more difficult to dig through the mud, rocks and debris that reached to the rooftops of homes.

Efrain Suarez walks through a barren terrain (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

“Nobody is going to be able to get them out or say how many are buried here,” Efrain Suarez said, standing amid the smoking holes dotting what used to be the village of San Miguel Los Lotes on the flanks of the mountain.

“The bodies are already charred,” the 59-year-old truck driver said. “And if heavy machinery comes in they will be torn apart.”

Once a verdant collection of canyons, hillsides and farms, the land is now a barren moonscape. Rescuers poked metal rods into the ground, sending clouds of smoke pouring into the air in a sign of the super-hot temperatures still remaining below the surface, which firefighters said reached as high as 750 to 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit (400 to 700 degrees Celsius) in some places.

There were glimmers of a return to some semblance of normality as Guatemalans across the country donated supplies and local volunteers reached out to those in need.

The location of the Guatemala volcano (PA Graphics)

A day after a new evacuation was ordered due to increasing activity by the volcano, a red alert remained in place for the departments of Escuintla, Sacatepequez and Chimaltenango, and people were advised not to linger near the affected zones.

The country’s seismology and volcanology institute warned of new flows descending on Wednesday afternoon through canyons on the volcano’s western slope toward the Pantaleon River, carrying boulders and tree trunks.

Authorities also warned that rain had increased the chance of deadly slides of ash, mud and debris.

The recovery effort was slow, with local media reports saying nine bodies were recovered on Wednesday.

A man whose rescue in the town of El Rodeo was shown on video as he was pulled out caked in mud with third-degree burns over 50% of his body died at a hospital on Wednesday, the country’s Social Security Institute said.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales greets rescue workers (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

The official death toll, which was increased to 99 on Wednesday, was expected to rise more, with at least 197 people listed as missing. About 3,500 were in shelters, many with their homes and livelihoods destroyed.

President Jimmy Morales traveled to El Rodeo by helicopter on Wednesday to survey the destruction.

Authorities suspended search and recovery efforts in the afternoon, citing the dangers posed by rain and new flows of volcanic material and debris.

In past disasters in which authorities determined there was no chance of finding survivors and further efforts to recover bodies would be too difficult, areas have been declared burial sites, the final resting place of the victims.

Asked about that possibility, the director of Guatemala’s disaster agency, Sergio Cabanas, said: “Not until the search efforts are over, and it would be left up to the people.”