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19 evacuated as Colima volcano spews ash in western Mexico

Clouds of ash fill the sky after an eruption by the Colima volcano.

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Mexico City: Hundreds of individuals have been evacuated from villages round Mexico’s “Volcano of Fire” and an airport closed on Saturday amid fears an eruption might escalate to grow to be the most important in a century.

But Puente said there was a “drop in volcanic activity” in the afternoon compared to earlier in the day, and that authorities were monitoring the volcano “minute by minute”.

The volcano began erupting on Thursday and has become increasingly active. Residents of other communities were evacuating voluntarily.

The national civil protection agency said the 19 residents of the hamlet of Yerbabuena would be taken to another community within the same municipality of Comala.

Despite its name, only a fraction of the volcano’s surface area is in the state of Colima; the majority of its surface area lies over the border in the neighboring state of Jalisco, toward the western end of the Eje Volcánico Transversal mountain range.

The same report said that officials from Yerbabuena had measured a full two inches of ash on the ground in the village.

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The officials were standing by ready to evacuate more people if necessary and were planning to distribute surgical masks that people could use to cover their noses and mouths.

Ash is raining down from the 'Volcano of Fire&#x27 in western Mexico as people that live nearby are relocated