Southern Chile volcano erupts with renewed strength

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

SANTIAGO (AFP) — The Chaiten volcano in southern Chile has erupted with renewed strength, belching thick clouds of ash and hurling molten rocks into the air, regional authorities said Friday.

The 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) tall Chaiten volcano, located some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) south of Santiago, first began to erupt in May after lying dormant for centuries.

"There has been an increase in the volcano's activity," Sergio Galilea, the governor Los Lagos region, told reporters Friday.

Galilea said that witnesses reported seeing two new craters, and of seeing "significant gas emanations and volcanic material" coming from the volcano.

The National Service of Geology and Mining said it registered 15 low-level earthquakes early Thursday in the volcano...