Guatemalan news reporter killed by Pacaya volcano
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Aníbal Archila, a Guatemalan reporter for Notisiete, was killed Thursday night as he was reporting on the eruption of the Pacaya volcano. Firefighters and another journalist found his body near Cerro Chino. Two more bodies were found near Cerro, both in the path of a lava flow. Archila, 32, had worked twelve years as a journalist.
Fellow worker Vinicio Fuentes said that Archila couldn't escape from the rain of volcanic stones, but his cameraman and another group of local reporters could. Archila was found with several lava and rock injuries on his body.
President Álvaro Colom and many other Guatemalan officials attended Archila's wake at a local chapel. Archila's body was taken at 08:30 (14:30 UTC) to the Metropolitan Cathedral for a mass. Later, it was moved to Notisiete's headquarters, where a memorial took place. Internment will take place at the Hermano Pedro cemetery in Mixco.
The volcano began erupting on Thursday, and on Friday searches began for another three people who are missing. Colom has placed Guatemala City and the Escuintla region under a state of emergency. About 1,600 people have been evacuated from the region, and La Aurora International Airport has been closed.
Related news
- "Pacaya volcano erupts; "state of public calamity" decreed" — Wikinews, May 28, 2010
Sources
- "Muere periodista guatemalteco que cubría la erupción del volcán Pacaya" — TeleSur, May 28, 2010 (Spanish)
- "Periodista Aníbal Archila de Noti7 fallece cubriendo la erupción del volcán de Pacaya" — Noticias de Guatemala, May 28, 2010 (Spanish)
- "Rendirán homenaje al periodista Anibal Archila" — Prensa Libre, May 29, 2010 (Spanish)
- "Guatemala: giornalista tv muore in servizio durante eruzione del vulcano" — IGN, May 28, 2010 (Italian)
- "Anibal Archila TV Reporter Killed in Pacaya Volcano Eruption" — Newsolio, May 28, 2010
- "Guatemala volcano shuts airport, kills one" — Times Live, May 28, 2010
- "Desaparece periodista que cubría erupción volcánica" — La Prensa de Honduras, May 27, 2010 (Spanish)