Rescue efforts in Guatemala after the eruption of its Fuego volcano were suspended on Tuesday afternoon after it spewed out a fresh torrent of volcanic matter.

Hundreds of villagers and rescue workers were evacuated just before the latest powerful pyroclastic flow – a rapid moving mixture of gas and volcanic matter – was discharged down the south side of the volcano as a towering plume of smoke rose into the grey sky.

Guatemala volcano: rescuers battle boiling ash to recover Fuego's dead Read more

The official death toll stands at 70, but hundreds – possibly thousands – of people remain unaccounted for from the communities who lived on the foothills of Fuego where it’s been too hot and dangerous for rescue workers to even get close. The last census was conducted in 2002, so authorities have no up to date information about who lived in the surrounding settlements.

There are 58 people in hospital with third-degree burns, the health ministry said on Tuesday night. Six children are to be transferred by military plane to a Texas hospital for treatment and six others to Mexico. Asphyxia was the main cause of death, followed by burns.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rescue workers run for cover as Guatemala’s Fuego volcano sends out more clouds of ash. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

Fuego – which means fire in Spanish – erupted without warning just before noon on Sunday, giving families little or no time to escape the torrent of molten lava, rocks and toxic fumes as the flow engulfed entire settlements. In contrast, a piercing alarm was sounded on Tuesday afternoon to alert people of the impending hazard.

The 12,000-foot (3,600-metre) volcano, which lies less than 31 miles (50km) west of the capital, has erupted on and off since 2002. It’s monitored by volcanologists but the build-up of energy which triggered Sunday’s explosion caught scientists by surprise.

Play Video 1:03 Aerial footage reveals devastation of Fuego volcano eruption – video

The latest activity is expected to create a curtain of ash that the wind carries west and north-west towards the capital, and could reach heights of 20,000 feet above sea level, according to the country’s seismology and volcanology institute. Highways around Fuego have already been closed and the towering cloud of ash could force aviation authorities to shut the international airport again.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clouds of ash rise from the Fuego volcano. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

Even before the latest eruption, search and rescue efforts had been severely hampered by perilous conditions.

On Monday, rescue workers were pulled out by mid-afternoon when the rain started to pour down and reduce the already poor visibility. There is no electricity in the hardest-hit areas. In addition, the rain produces fiery steam as it falls on the tall mounds of hot volcanic ash covering the affected communities. The ash is still between 400 and 700 degrees, according to the national disaster reduction agency (Conred).

In San Miguel Los Lotes, which is situated on a plain a few kilometres south-east of Fuego where the latest flow is heading, firefighters told the Guardian of three-storey houses that had filled with lava. “It was too fast, the people had no time to escape, and were left with no air to breathe,” said 36-year-old volunteer firefighter Angel Solis.

Pyroclastic flows pose very different threats to lava flows, which move sluggishly, volcanologist Erik Klemetti told PBS. “It’s definitely not vog [volcanic fog]. These pyroclastic flows just erase everything in their path.”