More blasts at Mayon

LEGAZPI CITY — Government volcanologists said Mayon Volcano continues to exhibit a "sustained high level of unrest," with more frequent secondary explosions triggering pyroclastic flows, more tremors and a bigger volume of sulfur dioxide emitted.

Predicting "a fair probability of an explosive eruption," they advised villagers within the volcano’s seven-kilometer radius to get ready for evacuation.

A number of Albay residents, however, have voluntarily left their homes due to Mayon’s continued rumblings and explosions.

In a bulletin, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the main lava flow is slowly advancing southeast toward the Bonga gully, although some small flows have been noted in the Mabinit, Miisi and Buyuan channels. — Cet Dematera