Americas

Home page

Americas

Volcanic ash forces Guatemala airport to suspend operations

14 June 2018 03:18 (UTC +04:00)

Guatemala City’s La Aurora international airport temporarily suspended operations on its only runway on Wednesday due to ash after the Pacaya volcano increased activity, a week and half after a violent eruption from another peak killed more than 100, APA reports quoting Reuters.

“This is a preventative measure taken to safeguard the lives of passengers and aircraft safety,” Guatemala’s civil aviation authority said.

Pacaya, located some 48 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital, is spewing a column of ash and gas some 3,500 meters (11,483 feet) into the air and has produced different low-level lava flows over the last few months, the seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute Insivumeh said in a statement.

Winds are blowing the column some 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the north, northeast.