Mayon evacuee electrocuted

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — A Mayon evacuee was electrocuted after she and her brother sneaked into the danger zone in Ligao City, Albay on Sunday morning.

Charlene Joy Yasol, 17, was declared dead on arrival at the Josefina Belmonte Duran District Memorial Hospital, according to Police Officer 3 Arvin Grebialde, chief of the Ligao City police station.

Yasol’s brother Marvin, 35, told police that he and his sister left the evacuation center without permission at around 5 a.m.

Marvin said they went to their house in Barangay Baligang, which is located within the danger zone.

He said he went out to feed their animals while his sister cleaned the house and did the laundry.

When he returned, he found his sister unconscious on the floor and holding a live wire.

The Yasols were among the families who fled from their homes after authorities raised Mayon’s alert level to 4.

Cedric Daep, chief of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said no financial assistance would be given to the victim as she and her brother violated an advisory against sneaking into the danger zone.

Daep reminded the evacuees to coordinate with the camp managers any plan to return to the danger zone.

“If there’s an urgent need for them to return home, we would have them escorted to ensure their safety.  For as long as Alert Level 4 is up, people should remain in evacuation centers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the volcano’s activity in the past 24 hours was again characterized by “sporadic and weak lava fountaining, lava flow and degassing in the summit crater.”

It said that episodes of lava collapse were observed in Basud gully in Sto. Domingo, and Bonga-Buyuan in Legazpi City.

Pyroclastic and lava flows were advancing toward the three major gullies of Miisi in Daraga, Bonga-Buyuan in Legazpi City, and Basud in Sto. Domingo, Phivolcs said.

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