Lava from Kamchatka volcano destroys research base, tourist houses
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. Nov 30 (Interfax) - Lava from the erupting Plosky Tolbachik volcano in Kamchatka has destroyed the Leningradskaya volcano research base and the Tolbachinskaya tourist complex, both which were located several kilometers from the volcano in the area of Vodopadny Spring.
"Scientists said they looked at the area near Plosky Tolbachik from a helicopter and saw that the Leningradskaya and Tolbachinskaya bases no longer exist. The lava has also destroyed several tourist houses, including a canteen, at a complex owned by the Kamchatka Volcanoes natural park," Yelena Nenasheva, public relations specialist at the natural park Kamchatka Volcanoes, told Interfax.
Nenasheva reiterated that there were no people at the complex at the time of the disaster.
An official with the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences geodesic service has told Interfax that the volcano continues to erupt intensively.
"The lava flowing from the two active craters has already covered an area of several square kilometers," the source said.
On Friday morning, the wind blew in the direction of the village of Kozyrevsk, in the Ust-Kamchatsky district, which is located forty kilometers west of the volcano, which led to ashy rain there.
"Ashes are now falling in Kozyrevsk. There is a strong smell of sulphur in the air," the source said.
According to the Emergency Situations Ministry's Main Department for the Kamchatka Territory, the Kozyrevsk kindergarten and school are working on Friday and there is an Olympiad going on at the school.
The Plosky Tolbachik began erupting in the evening of November 27 after being "quiet" for 36 years. The last serious eruption took place in 1975 -1976.
