Emergency evacuation as Chile volcano spits lava

By Esteban Medel

CHAITEN, Chile (Reuters) - Crackling with explosions, Chile's Chaiten volcano began spitting lava on Tuesday following its first eruption in thousands of years, and Navy warships were deployed to evacuate nearby residents in the southern region of Patagonia.

Chaiten erupted last Friday, sending a towering plume of ash into the sky that has since coated the surrounding area of southern Chile and reached into neighbouring Argentina.

The settlement of Chaiten, six miles (10 km) from the volcano, looked like a ghost town on Tuesday. Aside from a small contingent of Navy sailors and a few journalists, only dogs, chickens and horses remained standing in the ash.

Explosions and loud groaning noises resounded from the crater of the 3,280-foot (1,000-meter) volcano, which had been dormant for thousands of years.

No lava flow has yet been detected down Chaiten's sides, but Chile's National Emergency Office said the volcano was spitting bits of molten rock and that remaining civilians and troops were being evacuated across a fjord.

"The situation has changed suddenly," national emergency official Rodrigo Rojas said in an interview. "Today the volcano is erupting with pyroclastic material on a different scale."

The towering ash cloud was clearly visible from the southern town of Puerto Montt, where many desperate evacuees were being sheltered.

"I am very worried to have left my house, my pet, my animals behind. All I want is for this to be over," said Carola Perez, a 22-year-old housewife evacuated to the town.