Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN/Ulises Rosales

This is the moment a group of reckless climbers walker around the crater Popocatepetl volcano as it expels a huge smoke column – breaking security measures brought in by the authorities.

The video, shared on a Facebook group, shows the group of climbers walking around the Popocatepetl volcano in central Mexico as a huge column of ash bellows from its crater.

The climbers are walking around the crater as the smoke column reaches high into the sky above them.

Pictures Credit: CEN/CNPC_MX & CEN/Ulises Rosales & CEN/@PC_Estatal

The incident comes despite an exclusion zone of 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) around the volcano having been put in place by the authorities.

David Leon Romero, Head of the National Coordination of Civil Protection, said the climbers were risking their own lives and the lives of rescuers who would have to try to save them in an emergency.

Romero said in a press statement that the volcano restarted its activity at the end of 1994 and it is currently in Yellow Phase 2 level alert which means that there is explosive activity, gas, ash, and incandescent fragments being emitted.

Video Credit: CEN/@CNPC_MX

He said: “On 30th April 1996 five mountain climbers died after breaking into the restricted area and being hit by incandescent fragments.”

the National System of Civil Protection and the state authorities have asked citizens to respect the exclusion area in order to avoid to risk human lives. Romero said that “climbing an active volcano should not be seen as a sporting challenge for climbers, as it is a reckless action”.

Popocatepetl volcano registered two explosions on Tuesday that consisted of the expulsion of incandescent material which generated a smoke column around two kilometres (1.2 miles) high with a low content of ash. 

No arrests have been reported and it is unclear if an investigation has been launched.

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