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Ash from Chile volcano covers towns

The Columbian
Published: April 22, 2015, 5:00pm

SANTIAGO — An ash cloud from the Chilean volcano Calbuco covered several towns in Chile and across the Andes in neighboring Argentina on Thursday.

The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile erupted Wednesday after lying dormant for 43 years, prompting the evacuation of about 45,000 people.

The authorities said the volcano 560 miles south of Chilean capital Santiago erupted again in the early hours of Thursday, and noted that further eruptions were likely. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet was traveling to the area.

The Chilean town of Ensenada was covered in ash, and about 4,000 people needed to be evacuated, the Chilean National Emergency Office said Thursday. Schools in the area around the volcano were closed.

Domestic flights to Puerto Montt airport in Chile were suspended, authorities said. The town lies more than 30 miles from the volcano and has a population of around 240,000.

The wind carried the ash east across the Andes, with San Martin the worst-affected town.

“It is 10 a.m. and it’s dark as if it were nighttime. You cannot see anything, it’s like a very dense fog,” one San Martin resident told dpa.

Cars, houses and the ground were covered in a very fine volcanic ash, with a strong smell of sulfur, and the air made many people’s eyes and throats itch.

San Martin Mayor Juan Carlos Fernandez asked locals to stay indoors, classes were suspended and public sector employees were not required to go to work.

Local airports were also closed.

The previous activity of 2,015-meter Calbuco was a minor eruption in 1972, and before that an eruption in 1961.

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