El Salvador's largest volcano, dormant for more than a century, shook the ground as it woke up on Saturday, hurling out hot rocks, killing at least two and forcing more than 2,000 to flee.
The Santa Ana or Ilamatepec volcano, located 66km west of the capital, rumbled and belched thick plumes of ash that reached more than 15km into the sky on Saturday morning.
Military emergency sirens blasted, calling for an immediate area evacuation of the hamlets in the coffee growing area, and soon after the volcano began hurling glowing rocks and ash from its crater.
The volcano "has begun to expel magma on the side of the town of San Blas, while the ash is being carried by a south-southwesterly wind," University of El Salvador vulcanologist Francisco Barahona said.
Officials with the National Emergency Committee said that by 1pm 2,250 people had been evacuated from the danger zone.
Hot rocks belched out by the volcano ranged from the size of a football to the size of a car, a journalist on the scene reported.
At least seven people were injured by red hot rocks spewed into the air by the eruption, the national police said.
Two people were killed when 200 residents fled the hamlet of Palo Campana, located just 2km from the crater, Interior Minister Rene Figueroa said.
The eruption triggered a landslide of boiling mud and water from a crater lake that rushed down onto Palo Campana from three directions, authorities said.
Interior Ministry officials declared a red alert in a 4km radius around the volcano. A lesser "yellow alert" was issued for adjacent areas.
Some 20,000 people live in the area surrounding the volcano.
President Antonio Saca called on El Salvadorans to remain calm, describing the eruption as one of "moderate magnitude."
The country's civil protection forces have been deployed and are operational, he said.
Saca said he understood many people had never seen a volcano erupting and would like to get close to observe the phenomenon.
"This is not a game," he warned. "This could represent danger since we are not discounting another eruption."
At 2,381m above sea level, the Santa Ana volcano is the highest point in El Salvador. It last erupted in 1904.
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young people in India are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)
HOTTER: While Indians are accustomed to summer heat, climate change has caused northwestern India to warm faster than other parts of the country, an academic said Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures for yesterday of about 45°C in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope. The weather department warned that conditions would likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses. India declares a heat wave whenever maximum temperatures
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
RSS