1 | A view of Cotopaxi volcano spewing ashes as seen from Latacunga, Ecuador, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. |
2 | The Cotopaxi volcano near Ecuador's capital has spewed ash over a wide area in pre-dawn blasts. |
3 | The volcano is considered one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes due to a glacial cover that makes it prone to mud flows and its proximity to a heavily populated area, but government scientists say that the snow-capped volcano doesn't seem to be on the verge of a major eruption. |
4 | Its last major eruption was in 1877. |
5 | Ecuadorean authorities said Monday that up to 325,000 people live in areas that could be threatened by fast-moving mud and rock flows if there is a major eruption of the Cotopaxi volcano. |
6 | Top disaster official Maria del Pilar Cornejo briefed reporters as bad weather scrapped a planned flyover of the snow-capped 5,897-meter (19,600-foot) volcano, which is 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Quito. |
7 | Cotopaxi last rumbled Saturday, when it shot ash more than two miles high and spilled some lava. |
8 | Four hundred people were evacuated briefly. |
9 | The volcano began showing renewed activity in April. |
10 | President Rafael Correa decreed prior censorship Saturday on the volcano, worrying press freedom groups. |
11 | All media are prohibited from publishing information about Cotopaxi that doesn't come from an official source. |