Ecuador Jungle Volcano Shoots Ash High Into Sky
Date: 15-Jan-04
Country: ECUADOR
No one was hurt and no human settlement endangered by the 25-mile high plume of ash belched out by the Sangay volcano, whose crater towers 17,200 feet above the sweltering jungles of Morona Santiago province, the Ecuadorean Geophysics Institute said.
Sangay, about 120 miles from Ecuador's Andean mountain capital Quito, is one of the country's most active volcanoes, and has generated lava flows and explosions since its last full eruption in 1933.
But its relative isolation means Ecuadoreans will probably remain more worried about other volcanoes in a "volcano alley" near Quito.
The city's residents watched in horror as a mushroom cloud of ash rose out of nearby Guagua Pichincha in 1999, looking as if an atomic bomb had gone off. The choking ash later settled on the city, forcing people to wear face masks.
Scientists are monitoring another four volcanoes they consider to be in danger of eruption.
