Tuesday December 19 4:15 AM ET
Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano Spews Molten Rock

By Pav Jordan

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano spewed molten rock into the sky, causing small forest fires on its slopes in Puebla state where thousands of residents had been evacuated but many others refused to leave.

Television images showed explosions of light above the volcano, which is 17,884 feet high and has been increasingly active in recent days, showering several communities with ash.

One man, 65, reportedly died from a heart attack during the molten shower Monday. No other injuries were immediately reported among the more than 25,000 residents who remained around the base of the volcano.

Defense spokesman Brig. Gen. Javier del Real said on national television that authorities were in the process of evacuating another 21,500.

``We are continuing on maximum alert,'' Mexican President Vicente Fox told reporters in an emergency announcement late on Monday.

Fox said his interior and defense ministers were working together on contingency plans should the volcano's activity increase.

Slabs of molten rock, some with a diameter as big as 1.5 feet, were shot some 650 feet into the sky above the volcano's crater.

Forced Evacuation Possible

``I think that the people will have a reason now to leave their homes and villages,'' Puebla state Gov. Melquiades Morales said in an interview on local radio. He did not discount the possibility of a forced evacuation if necessary.

Molten rock and scalding sand continued to shoot from the mouth of the volcano for more than an hour, from 7:07 p.m. local time (8:07 p.m. EST), reportedly burning trees in the area surrounding Popocatepetl, which is 40 miles from Mexico City.

Authorities continued to urge residents living around the base of the volcano, known as the ``smoking mountain'' in the indigenous Nahuatl language, to evacuate the area.

They called on residents living within a 7.4-mile radius to evacuate to 180 refugee centers. Some 10,000 residents had been evacuated by Sunday, but many more than that were refusing to leave their homes.

Experts had determined that a dome of lava had formed in the crater of the volcano that could cause a buildup of pressure and lead to stronger emissions than in recent days.

``The force of the gas rising is causing these violent explosions through the dome of lava,'' said Roberto Quaas, director of Mexico's National Center for Prevention of Disasters (Cenapred).

The volcano ``Popo,'' as it is known locally, was inactive from 1927 to 1994, when there was a moderate eruption. Since then it has been increasingly active, sending up smoke and ash columns. In November 1998 the volcano spewed fragments of lava rock.

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