Guatemala volcano death toll up to 69, expected to rise
EL RODEO, Guatemala — Rescuers pulled survivors and bodies from the charred aftermath of the powerful eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire, as the death toll rose to 69 on Monday and was expected to go higher from a disaster that caught residents of remote mountain hamlets off guard, with little or no time to flee to safety.
Using shovels and backhoes, emergency workers dug through the debris and mud, perilous labor on smoldering 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, and rescuers were forced to use sledgehammers to break through the roofs of houses buried in debris up to their rooflines to try to see if anyone was trapped inside.
Fanuel Garcia, director of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences, said 69 bodies had been recovered and 17 of those had been identified.
“It is very difficult for us to identify them because some of the dead lost their features or their fingerprints” from the red-hot flows, Garcia said. “We are going to have to resort to other methods … and if possible take DNA samples to identify them.”
Baker in spotlight after court win in gay wedding cake case
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Jack Phillips seems like an unlikely U.S. Supreme Court plaintiff.
The laconic 62-year-old has quietly run his Masterpiece Cakeshop from a strip mall in suburban Denver for a quarter of a century.
That changed, however, when a gay couple asked him to make their wedding cake in 2012 and Phillips said no, citing his religious beliefs.
Now, after winning a partial victory Monday from the high court, Phillips has become a beacon for conservatives who feared a shift toward gay rights could make them an oppressed minority.
“I’m profoundly thankful that the court saw the injustice that the government inflicted on me,” Phillips said in a statement issued through his lawyers. “This is a great day for our family, our shop, and for people of all faiths who should not fear government hostility or unjust punishment. Today’s decision makes clear that tolerance is a two-way street.”
By wire sources
