Montserrat cut off by Soufriere's fury / Volcano Watch

Publication: Sun on Saturday
Date: Sat, Jun 28, 1997
Page: 5
Byline: Terry Ally / In Montserrat

MONTSERRAT remains virtually cut off from the rest of the Caribbean as the death toll yesterday rose to nine with about 14 people more missing. Authorities were able to identfy only three of the dead: a Guyanese national, Melville Cuffy and two  Dominicans, Selena Celestine and her sister Isaline. Five burn victims were airlifted from Montserrat to  nearby Guadeloupe and Martinique for treatment. Several others were treated locally and discharged.

Rescue helicopters refuelling in Antigua and doing aerial sweeps of the eastern side of Montserrat are the only links with the tiny island. 
Many boatmen in Antigua refuse to venture close to Montserrat fearing a tidal wave from volcanic blast, something scientists say was unlikely.

Governor of Montserrat Frank Savage is considering  forcing 1 300 people to evacuate who have refused to leave areas under risk. The dead and injured were part of hundreds who refused to leave their homes believing that there were relatively safe in the areas north and north-east of Chances Peak where the volcano is located. But that relative safety changed with eruptions earlier this week with a turn for the worst hours before Wednesday's blast caused the torrential river of superhot rocks and ask to be belched from the crater like a flash flood burying one village damaging several others and destroying 175 homes and buildings. The people who died were unable to out-run or out-drive the pyroclastic flow which sped down the northern slope at 12 metres per second. This was far slower than the first blast on May 27, which clocked speeds of 60 to 80 metres per second.

That was the first time that pyroclastic flows descended the northern slope and was an anomonious sign of things yet to come, a prompting revision to the volcanic risks map of the island. In May/June the larvae flowed three kilometres from the crater which was the longest flow so far, but Wednesday's eruption travelled further. Savage said the first pyroclastic flow travelled 5 kilometres to the edge of W H Bramble Airport in 78 minutes. The airport was successfully evacuated before the eruption.

The second flow went towards a number of villages via the northern slope burying one and damaging several others. Scientists said more activity was imminent. However, they do not believe that the blast would be as large as to warrant evacuation of the entire island.