Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit:CEN
This is the moment a daring climber films the smoking crater of the active Popatecl volcano – despite the authorities placing a 12-kilometre exclusion zone around the volcano.
The footage was taken when a group of mountain climbers scaled the crater of the Popocatepetl which is located in the central Mexican states of Puebla, Morelos and Mexico which registered 141 exhalations between the 25th and 26th of September.
In the video, a group of climbers can be seen reaching the volcano’s crater where smoke is being exhaled and one of the group can be heard saying: “We walking up to the crater of the volcano.”
The snowy peak of the volcano can be seen in the background as clouds of smoke are exhaled from the crater.
The government of Morelos has confirmed that the volcano released 141 exhalations between the 25th and 26th September which included water vapour, gases and low quantities of ash.
The video was reportedly first posted in the Facebook group ‘Fans del Volcan Popocatepetl’ by ‘Giovanny Donieber Lopez’, whose profile says he studied Geophysics and Vulcanology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. None of the climbers have been officially identified.
The crater is currently 350 metres in diameter and 150 metres in depth.
The Civil Protection for the State of Puebla wrote on social media: “The National Centre for Disaster Prevention urges citizens not to get close to the Popocatepetl volcano, especially the crater, because of the danger of falling incandescent material. Respect the security radius of 12 kilometres.”
The volcano is currently in Yellow Alert Phase 2 which means there could be eruptive activity with the emission of water vapour and gas plumes and the launching of incandescent material up to several kilometres from the crater.
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