Last updated 18:33, June 4 2018
A volcano has erupted in Guatemala, killing at least 25 people, 18 more than initially thought, authorities say.
Disaster agency spokesman David de Leon said late on Sunday (local time) the bodies were found in the community of San Miguel Los Lotes. Seven deaths were confirmed previously.
Rescuers have struggled to reach rural residents cut off by the eruption, which has also injured at least 20. Authorities have been unable to account for an undetermined number of people and said they fear the death toll could rise.
The Volcan de Fuego, or "volcano of fire," exploded in a hail of ash and molten rock shortly before noon on Sunday, local time, blanketing nearby villages in heavy ash. Then it began sending lava flows down the mountain's flank and across homes and roads around 4pm.
Eddy Sanchez, director of the country's seismology and volcanology institute, said the flows reached temperatures of about 700C.
Video images published by Sacatepezuez Television showed a charred landscape where a lava flow came into contact with homes.
Three bodies lay partially buried in ash-coloured debris from the volcano, which lies about 44km from Guatemala City.
Other videos from local media showed residents walking barefoot and covered in muddy residue.
"Not everyone was able to get out. I think they ended up buried,'' Consuelo Hernandez, a resident of the village of El Rodeo, told the newspaper Diario de Centroamerica.
"Where we saw the lava fall, we ran to a hillside to escape," she added.
My cousin just sent me this..Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala..Ash reaching the Capital pic.twitter.com/nw3HmIaZi5
— Huéz Becerra (@BrixSuperChief) June 4, 2018
Hundreds of rescue workers, including firefighters, police and soldiers worked to recover bodies from the still-smoking lava.
National Disaster Coordinator Sergio Cabanas said seven people were confirmed dead and an unknown number were unaccounted for.
Among the fatalities were four people, including a disaster agency official, killed when lava set a house on fire in El Rodeo village, Cabanas said.
Two children were burned to death as they watched the volcano's second eruption this year from a bridge, he added.
Another victim was found in the streets of El Rodeo by volunteer firefighters, but the person died in an ambulance.
In this image taken with a long exposure, the Volcan de Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, spews molten rock from its crater in Alotenango, Guatemala, Sunday, June 3, 2018. Rescuers struggled to reach rural residents cut off by the deadly volcanic eruption Sunday. (AP Photo/Luis Soto)
Guatemala's disaster agency said 3100 people had evacuated from nearby communities, and ash fall from the eruption was affecting an area with a population of about 1.7 million of the country's 15m or so people.
Shelters were opened for those forced to flee.
"Currently the volcano continues to erupt and there exists a high potential for (pyroclastic) avalanches of debris,'' the disaster agency said via Twitter, quoting Sanchez, the director of the seismology and volcanology institute.
It added that he said authorities began to send bulletins on the situation starting at 11:30 a.m.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said he would issue a declaration of a state of emergency to be approved by Congress and urged people to heed warnings from emergency officials.
Firefighters regroup after working on the evacuation of residents near Volcan de Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, in Alotenango, Guatemal.
Ash was falling on the Guatemala City area as well as the departments of Sacatepequez, Chimaltenango and Escuintla, which are in south-central Guatemala around the volcano. Streets and houses were covered in the colonial town of Antigua, a popular tourist destination.
Aviation authorities closed the capital's international airport because of the danger posed to planes by the ash.
The conical Volcan de Fuego reaches an altitude of 3,763 meters above sea level at its peak.
Volcan de Fuego blows outs a thick cloud of ash, blanketing villages.
Neighborus stand outside a temporary morgue in Alotenango where multiple are dead, and an unknown number of people are missing.