Toxic gases in danger zone around La Palma volcano could kill a person in minutes

The toxic gases present in the danger zone around the La Palma volcano are in high enough concentrations that they could kill a person in minutes.

The risk from the La Palma volcano goes beyond ash and lava, with an invisible but equally lethal threat. The Military Emergencies Unit (UME) has confirmed that the concentration of toxic gases in the danger zone around the volcano could kill a person without adequate protection in just 30 minutes.

The UME stated that there is “a massive presence of lethal gases” in the danger zone around the volcano, such as the areas close to San Nicolás de Las Manchas or La Bombilla. The UME uses autonomous respiration equipment to constantly monitor the danger zones around the volcano, in this case El Paso, at 1,500 metres from the centre of emission.

This is a zone where there is an abundant accumulation of ash, and the houses and the cracks in the earth expire “an important volume of gases” such as carbon monoxide, which is invisible and lethal and covers a large area of the danger zone.

“In this danger zone,” explained the UME, “any human being without the maximum protection would have lost consciousness in just a few minutes and died in less than half an hour due to the inhalation of invisible gases which can be lethal”.

Hoy un equipo de INVOLCAN ha accedido de nuevo al cráter para continuar la monitorización de los gases volcánicos / Today an INVOLCAN team has accessed the crater again to continue monitoring the volcanic gases pic.twitter.com/a8z8TGMbn1

— INVOLCAN (@involcan) December 23, 2021

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