05 June 2011

CHILE/ ARGENTINA : 7 June UPDATE: Ash Cloud Reaches B. Aires; All Flights Cancelled From Puyehue Volcano Eruptions.

LINK CHANGE / AP

TO SEE: 11 magnificent eruption fotos:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/jun/05/chile-volcano-eruption-in-pictures#/?picture=375383031&index=0

    Columns of heavy ash from the Puyehue volcano chain eruptions have reached Buenos Aires and even Santiago...causing many flights to be cancelled.
   Geologists say the volcano might erupt...for several weeks.
   The Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain in southern Chile has erupted for the first time in 51 years.
   Columns of gas and ash measure six miles/10 kms high and three miles/five kms wide.
   The government evacuated 4,000 residents to shelters and issued a maximum warning alert for the area.
   A border crossing between Argentina and Chile is closed.

   In the resort city of Bariloche, Argentina...100 kms/62 miles from the volcano "...ash was dumped like a snowstorm...the city is covered in grey ash,” said a resident. Officials have closed the airport there until at least midweek.
   Its last major eruption was in 1960, following a magnitude 9.5 earthquake.