Only a few of Guatemala volcano's dead have been identified

People carry to the cemetery the coffins of seven people who died during the eruption of the Volcan de Fuego. Photo / AP

People from villages skirting a deadly volcano in Guatemala yesterday began mourning the few dead who could be identified after an eruption on Monday killed dozens by engulfing them in floods of searing ash and mud.

Mourners cried over caskets lined up in a row in the main park of San Juan Alotenango before rescuers stopped their work for another night as the Volcan de Fuego, or the Volcano of Fire, rumbled in the distance.

There is no electricity in the hardest hit areas of Los Lotes and El Rodeo, so most searching continued only until sunset.

Guatemalan authorities put the death toll at 69, but officials said just 17 had been identified so far because the intense heat of the volcanic debris flows left most bodies unrecognisable.

"It is very difficult for us to identify them because some of the dead lost their features or their fingerprints," said Fanuel Garcia, director of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences.

"We are going to have to resort to other methods ... and if possible take DNA samples to identify them."

Monday's eruption caught residents of remote mountain hamlets off guard, with little or no time to flee to safety.

Using shovels and backhoes, emergency workers yesterday dug through the debris and mud, perilous labour on smouldering terrain still hot enough to melt shoe soles a day after the volcano exploded in a hail of ash, smoke and molten rock.

Bodies were so thickly coated with ash that they looked like statues.

Rescuers used sledgehammers to break through the roofs of houses buried up to their rooflines to check for anyone trapped inside.

Hilda Lopez said her mother and sister were still missing after the slurry of hot gas, ash and rock roared into her village of San Miguel Los Lotes, just below the mountain's flanks.

"We were at a party, celebrating the birth of a baby when one of the neighbours shouted at us to come out and see the lava that was coming," she said. "We didn't believe it, and when we went out the hot mud was already coming down the street.

"My mother was stuck there, she couldn't get out," said Lopez, weeping and holding her face in her hands.

Her husband, Joel Gonzalez, said his father had also been unable to escape and was believed to be "buried back there, at the house".

Conred spokesman David de Leon said the volcano at first billowed smoke and ash kilometres into the sky. Then there was a new, more powerful explosion about two hours later.

Soon, searing flows of lava, ash and rock mixed with water and debris were gushing down the volcano's flanks, blocking roads and burning homes.

"It travelled much faster. It arrived in communities right when the evacuation alerts were being sent out," de Leon said.

The fast-moving flows overtook people in homes and streets with temperatures reaching as high as 700C, and hot ash and volcanic gases that can cause rapid asphyxiation.

Emergency crews in helicopters have managed to pull at least 10 people alive from areas cut off by the flows. Conred said 3271 people had been evacuated.

- AP