- Title: PHILIPPINES: SURVIVOR GORDON COLE SPEAKS ABOUT VOLCANIC ERUPTION
- Date: 11th August 1996
- Summary: NEAR MOUNT CANLAON AND BACOLOD CITY, BACOLOD, PHILIPPINES (AUGUST 11, 1996 (RTV - ACCESS ALL) NEAR MOUNT CANLAON 1. LV MOUNT CANLAON 0.07 2. LV HELICOPTER ARRIVES BACK FROM MOUNTAIN CARRYING RESCUERS (2 SHOTS) 0.36 3. SV INJURED PEOPLE BEING CARRIED FROM RESCUE HELICOPTER (3 SHOTS) 0.52 4. LV EXTERIOR HOSPITAL 0.55 5. GV INT HOSPITAL CORRIDOR 0.58 6. CU SIGN ON DOOR SAYING "GORDON, COLE" 1.00 7. GV COLE'S ROOM 1.05 8. CU BRITON GORDON COLE SPEAKING (ENGLISH)/ CUTAWAYS (5 SHOTS) 1.45 9. GV/SV OTHER INJURED PEOPLE IN HOSPITAL (4 SHOTS) 1.59 SEQUENCE 8 TRANSCRIPT: COLE: "THE REST OF US WERE CAUGHT OUT BY LARGE FALLING ROCKS AND HOT BLACK ASH, IT WAS LIKE BEING INSIDE A FURNACE. IT WAS HORRIBLE. I COULDN'T BREATHE. AND THAT WAS WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. I WAS SCARED THE WHOLE TIME BECAUSE I THOUGHT THE VOLCANO WAS GOING TO ERUPT AGAIN. IF THE VOLCANO HAD ERUPTED AGAIN, I THINK WE WOULD HAVE ALL DIED." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 26th August 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BACOLOD CITY, PHILIPPINES
- City:
- Country: Phillippines
- Reuters ID: LVA7V2882AJI08QSKMVDIUDKTKB
- Story Text: INTRO: A young Briton who survived a volcanic eruption in the central Philippines said he never thought he would live through the nightmare of burning ash and rocks as his friends lay dying beside him.
Gordon Cole, of Cumbria, said in an interview from his hospital bed in the provincial capital of Bacolod on Sunday (August 12) that the experience was like "being in a furnace.
"It was horrible. I couldn't breathe. And that was when I thought I was going to die," said the 22-year-old Cole.
He was among 21 Belgian, British and Filipino climbers who were at the summit of 2,435 metre (7,305 foot) Mount Canlaon when it erupted without warning on Saturday (August 11).
The mountain, which last erupted three years ago, spewed out a giant cloud of flaming ash and hot rocks which came crashing down on the climbers.
Most of the climbers escaped with relatively minor injuries but Cole's two companions, fellow Briton Julian Green and Filipino guide Niel Perez were killed.
Cole said: "It was quite a strange experience, I wasn't really panicking about death, I just felt sorry that my life was going to end so soon." Cole said he was scared throughout the whole ordeal. "I thought the volcano was going to erupt again. If the volcano had erupted again I think we would have all died." Cole said he reached out for one girl and carried her to safety on his back. The girl, Belgian Caroline Lagrange, suffered bruises and minor burns.
Cole said he survived the 20-minute eruption by covering his head with his hands and letting his rucksack take the blows from the falling rocks, some as big as half a metre in diameter.
Cole arrived in the Philippines two weeks ago as part of a a group of Britons working as volunteers for a Philippine conservationist group.
Philippine scientists said the eruption of Canlaon, on the island of Negros 500 km (300 miles) south of Manila, was normal for this type of volcano.
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