http://www.boston.com/dailynews/136/world/Chunk_of_Mayon_volcano_cracks_:.shtml

Chunk of Mayon volcano cracks off under magma pressure

By Associated Press, 5/16/2001 03:49

MANILA, Philippines (AP) A small chunk of the Mayon volcano's crater cracked off under rising magma pressure Wednesday as seismic activity continued to rumble warnings of a possible eruption, volcanologists said.

A V-shaped crater section broke off and slid 500 yards down the mountainside before dawn, said Julio Sabit of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Sabit said the glow was visible to the naked eye from the base of the 8,118-foot volcano for several minutes afterward.

The institute has maintained a ''level three'' alert, of a maximum five, since late January when increased seismic activity indicated possible eruption of Mayon, about 200 miles southeast of Manila.

Seismic stations on the volcano's southern slope in recent days have detected 15 to 20 daily tremors, he said.

The volcano last erupted in February 2000, driving 68,000 people from their homes. A 3.7-mile area around Mayon is declared permanently off-limits.

Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried an entire town in volcanic mud.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001