Philippine villagers flee ashfall, sight of red-hot lava from erupting Mayon Volcano

Truckloads of villagers have fled their homes near the Mayon Volcano in Philippines, fearing exposure to the red-hot lava and ashfalls

Truckloads of villagers on June 14 fled Philippine communities close to the erupting Mayon Volcano, traumatized by the sight of red-hot lava flowing down its crater and fearful of sporadic blasts of ash.

Nearly 15,000 people have left the mostly poor farming communities within a 6-kilometre (3.7-mile) radius of Mayon's crater in the Northeastern Albay Province in forced evacuations since volcanic activity spiked last week. Albay’s Governor extended the danger zone by a kilometre (more than half a mile) on June 12 and asked thousands of residents to be ready to move anytime.

But many opted to flee from the expanded danger zone even before the mandatory evacuation order.

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“There's lava and ashfall already,” Fidela Banzuela, 61, said from a navy truck where she, her daughter, grandchildren and neighbors clambered up after leaving their home in San Fernando Village close to Mayon. “If the volcano explodes, we won’t see anything because it would be so dark.”

Her daughter, Sarah Banzuela, fled with her two children, including a 2-year-old who has asthma, which she said could be triggered back by volcanic ash that rained down on their village over the weekend.

"There's ashfall already and, at night, there’s red-hot lava from the volcano that seems to be moving closer to us,” Sarah Banzuela, 22, told The Associated Press. She and her mother arrived at a grade school turned into an evacuation center teeming with other displaced villagers.