3rd eruption for Chilean volcano this month

The Llaima volcano, one of Chile's most active, erupted again on Saturday....

The Llaima volcano, one of Chile's most active, erupted again on Saturday, sending a stream of lava down its slope and spewing a long plume of ash, authorities said. The volcano, 400 miles south of Santiago, registered a number of explosions "at the crater level," the government's Emergency Bureau said, and a slow stream of lava some 250 meters long was seen on its slopes. Expert Hugo Moreno, said the eruptions were more explosive than previous times. "The most amazing thing was the amount of lava delivered, it was a very large quantity for a very short period of time, and it was very explosive, more that any prior event," Moreno said. A state of alert was issued for small villages near the 9,400-foot volcano, and civil defence warned the inhabitants of possible preventive evacuation. "An important column (of smoke) has risen, I think it is the most important column that has risen since this eruptive process started on June 15, it was around 7000 metres (7655 yards) high," Cautin province governor Andres Jouannet said. It is the third eruption of the Llaima this month bringing the total number of large eruptions to 38 since 1640. At the same time, the Chaiten volcano located 745 miles (1,200 Kilometres) south of Santiago rumbled once again emitting clouds of ash and rock and could be preparing for another eruption, according to a Chilean vulcanologist