El Rodeo, Guatemala: Rescuers on Monday pulled at least 10 people alive from ash drifts and mud flows that poured down the slopes of Guatemala's erupting Volcano of Fire, but officials said 62 people were dead although not all were identified.

The head of the country's disaster agency, Sergio Cabanas, said rescuers using helicopters had pulled 10 people from areas swept over by a towering cloud of thick ash, mud or lava.

Residents of El Rodeo, about 12 kilometres downslope from the crater, said they were caught unaware by fast-moving pyroclastic flows when the volcano west of Guatemala City exploded Sunday, sending towering clouds of ash kilometres into the air.

Searing flows of ash mixed with water and debris down its flanks, blocking roads and burning homes.