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Manila: A few evacuees returned home as local government units said it is now safe at eight kilometres from the summit of the restive Mayon volcano in southern Luzon.
"We have announced that it is now safe for the evacuees who are residing at eight-kilometre from the summit of Mayon to go back to their villages," said Jukes Nunez, of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council's office.
But only 868 families (3,813 people) returned to their villages in San Fernando and San Isidro in Sto Domingo Province, said Nunez.
He said other residents believed that Mayon is "still active and simmering inside, the reason why they have not dared to return home".
Those who were allowed to return home were residents of villages in Legazpi and Sto Domingo provinces, on the endangered southeast side of Mayon volcano.
Some 43,725 people of 9,346 families from 32 affected villages were transferred to 28 evacuation centres when Mayon showed signs of aggravation last month.
Meanwhile, volcano experts told Gulf News that lava flows were seen all over Mayon's summit, creating a larger pathway for hot and boiling pyroclastic flow including powerful avalanche of rock falls suggesting an impending major eruption.
In a phone interview, Elmer Gabinete of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said, "During an aerial investigation around Mayon, we noted that the whole summit was covered with thick lava flow.
"The deposit of lava flow has reached three to four kilometres all over the summit of Mayon," said Gabinete.
"It is a very dangerous sign. This could push faster the movement of lava flow, which is now at 6.8 kilometre at the southeast side of Mayon's summit. This will also attract pyroclastic flows in the event of a major eruption which is still expected to come," explained Gabinete.
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