Time running out to find survivors of Guatemala volcano eruption

Authorities cautiously resumed search and rescue operations Wednesday in towns and villages devastated by the eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano, but timewas quickly running out to find survivors of a disaster that has killed at least 75 people and left nearly 200 missing.

Thousands of people displaced by the eruption have sought refugein shelters, many of them with dead or missing loved ones andfacing an uncertain future, unable to return to homes destroyed bythe volcano.

In a matter of three or four minutes the village disappeared.- Alfonso Castillo

Firefighters said the chance of finding anyone alive amid thesteaming terrain was practically nonexistent 72 hours afterthe volcanic explosion on Sunday. The thick grey ash covering thestricken region was hardened by rainfall, making it even moredifficult to dig through the mud, rocks and debris that reached tothe rooftops of homes.

"Nobody is going to be able to get them out or say how many areburied here," said Efrain Suarez, standing amid the smoking holesdotting what used to be the village of San Miguel Los Lotes on theflanks of the mountain.

"The bodies are already charred," the 59-year-old truck driversaid. "And if heavy machinery comes in, they will be torn apart."

Once a verdant collection of canyons, hillsides and farms, the area was reduced to a moonscape of ash by the avalanche of fast-moving molten rock, mudand debris. Rescue workers poked metal rods intothe ground, sending clouds of smoke pouring into the air a signof the super-hot temperatures stillbelow the surface, which firefighters said reached as high as400 and 700 C in some places.

"We can only work in places where we can stand on the roofsof houses because the ash is very hot. There are placeswhere you stick the pickaxe or rod in and we see a lot of smokecoming out and fire, and it's impossible to keep digging because we could die," said rescuer Diego Lorenzana, 25.

At a shelter in the Murray D. Lincoln school in the city ofEscuintla, about 15 kilometresfrom the volcano's peak,Alfonso Castillo said he and his extended family of 30 had lived ona shared plot in Los Lotes where each family had its own home.

"In a matter of three or four minutes the village disappeared,"Castillo said, smothered in what he described as a "sea" of muckthat came crashing into homes, inundating people, pets and wildlife.

A day after a new evacuation was ordered due to increasingactivity by the volcano, a red alert remained in place for the
areas of Escuintla, Sacatepequez and Chimaltenango, and peoplewere advised not to linger near the affected zones.

Authorities warned that the rain had also increased the chance ofdeadly flows of ash, mud and debris.

The recovery effort was slow, with only nine bodies recovered on Wednesday, according to local media reports.

A man whose rescue in the town of El Rodeo was shown on video as he was pulled out caked in mud with third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body died at a hospital Wednesday, according to thecountry's Social Security Institute.

The official death toll, which stood at more than 75, was sure torise.

President Jimmy Morales travelled to El Rodeo by helicopterWednesday to survey the destruction.

In past disasters where authorities determined there was nochance of finding survivors and further efforts to recover bodieswould be too difficult, areas have been declared burial sites, thefinal resting place of the victims.

Asked about that possibility in this disaster, Sergio Cabanas, director of disaster agency Conred, said: "Not until the search efforts are over, and itwould be left up to the people."

"We are analyzing the terrain," said David de Leon, spokesperson for the disaster agency Conred.

The agency has said 1.7 million people have been affected by the volcanic eruption Fuego volcano's biggest in four decades and over 12,000 have been evacuated from the area.