Guatemala volcano death toll rises to 62

6/4/2018
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • APTOPIX-Guatemala-Volcano-3

    A resident cradles his dog after rescuing him near the Volcan de Fuego, or "Volcano of Fire," in Escuintla, Guatemala, Monday. A fiery volcanic eruption in south-central Guatemala sent lava flowing into rural communities, killing dozens as rescuers struggled to reach people where homes and roads were charred and blanketed with ash.

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

  • EL RODEO, Guatemala — The known death toll for the eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire has taken a sudden jump upward.

    The director of Guatemala’s National Institute of Forensic Science says that 62 bodies have been recovered following the eruption.

    Fanuel Garcia said Monday that only 13 of those bodies have so far been identified. The bodies were recovered in the hamlets of Los Lotes and El Rodeo.

    The head of the country’s disaster agency had previously put the death toll at 33, but warned it would go higher.

    The volcano west of Guatemala City staged and explosive eruption Sunday, burying surrounding hamlets in hot ash and mud that gave residents on the volcano’s flanks little time to escape.