GUATEMALA CITY — Two huge volcanos in Central and South America erupted Friday, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and disrupting air traffic as ash drifted over wide regions.
Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks Thursday afternoon, blanketing the country’s capital with ash and forcing the closure of the international airport. President Alvaro Colom declared a “state of calamity.”
Television reporter Anibal Archila was killed by a shower of burning rocks when he got too close to the volcano, about 15 miles south of Guatemala City, said David de Leon, a spokesman for the national disaster committee. He said three children between the ages of 7 and 12 were missing.
The volcano’s eruption lost some intensity Friday, although explosions continued to shake the 8,373-foot mountain, according to the Central American country’s Geophysical Research and Services Unit.
Meanwhile, explosions rocked Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano, 95 miles southeast of the capital, Quito, prompting evacuations hundreds of people from nearly villages.
