The World - News from March 27, 1988

Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano continued to spew a 9,000-foot-high column of ash and gas as authorities kept nearby inhabitants on alert. Residents of the area around the 17,800-foot volcano, located 90 miles west of Bogota, were tuned to radio broadcasts giving updates on its activity, which had stabilized somewhat after showing increasing signs of an eruption over the last five days. Some residents in a six-mile “high-risk” zone around Nevado del Ruiz refused government efforts to evacuate them. As many as 25,000 people were killed in 1985 when the volcano erupted, burying the town of Armero and several nearby villages.