La Soufrière volcano, on the Caribbean island of Sant Vicenç, began a series of explosive eruptions on April 9, sending clouds of hot ash about 20,000 feet into the air, covering much of the island with ash and causing water and electricity cuts.
The last and largest eruption to date occurred in the early hours of Monday, April 12, when the volcano sent dead clouds of hot gas, ash and rocks down mountain slopes, according to Richard Robertson, a professor at geology of the University of the West Indies. Center.
“I suspect the buildings and structures on the mountain are destroyed, damaged, shattered,” Robertson said in an online interview with the Prime Minister of St. Louis. Vincent, Ralph Gonsalves. “It makes me shudder to think if there were living beings on that mountain. Because everything that was there, man, animal, anything … are no longer there. ”
At the moment, there are no reports of deaths or injuries. Some 16,000 residents near the volcano were evacuated a day before the eruptions began, as scientists became concerned about growing activity on the volcano, which killed about 1,600 people during a violent eruption in 1902. residents have declined to be relocated, according to island officials.
The explosions on the 3,864-foot volcano it could continue for days or weeks, according to the UWI Seismic Research Center.