ANTIGUA, Guatemala — Rescue workers searched for survivors amid a desolate landscape of ash and mud on Monday, a day after a volcano erupted near the capital of Guatemala, killing at least 65 people.

The number of missing after the Fuego volcano’s eruption was still unclear, according to officials with Guatemala’s natural disaster commission, known as Conred.

Volunteer firefighters waded though layers of ash that reached knee-deep in places, only to find the charred remains of those who had been unable to flee the torrent of burning rock and ash that poured down the slopes of the volcano, whose name means “fire.”

“We saw bodies totally, totally buried, like you saw in Pompeii,” said Dr. Otto Mazariegos, president of the Association of Municipal and Departmental Firefighters.