Chile volcano keeps spewing ash, grounding flights across South America

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The Puyehue volcano on the border between Chile and Argentina continued to spew ash over the Andes and Patagonia regions of South America on Tuesday. The eruption is now entering its 11th day and shows no sign of stopping.

Flights were grounded from Argentina to Australia and New Zealand as ash clouds that could harm jet engines blanketed the region and moved west across the South Pacific. Flights were also being canceled in Santiago, Chile’s capital (link in Spanish), as well as in Brazil and Uruguay.

The Associated Press said ‘booming explosives echoed across the Andes’ on Monday as ash and lightning rose from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic complex, which is in southern Chile just west of the border with Argentina. Activity at the volcano began on June 4. Thousands of nearby residents have been evacuated.

Concerns rose this week that the eruption could harm the region’s tourism industry as the high winter ski season approaches, reports said. Here’s a fresh video report (in Spanish) on the eruption from the Argentine news source Clarin.

See more photos of the ongoing eruption at our sister blog Framework.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City