Expert warns of devastation if the plume of ash and gas from the Chile's Chaiten volcano collapses as the clouds of ash billowing from the summit cause health ferars in the region. A towering plume of ash from an erupting volcano in Chile's remote Patagonia could rain down on the surrounding area and cause devastating damage, a volcano expert warned on Friday (May 9) as officials and experts flew over the area to examine the dangers. Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the immediate vicinity of Chaiten volcano, 760 miles (1,220 km) south of the capital Santiago, and are forcing people within a 30-mile (50-km) radius to leave. Chaiten began erupting eight days ago for the first time in thousands of years. For now, the plume continues spreading out across the area and fluttering down to smother the countryside, but Carmen Fernandez, the director of the government's emergency agency, said it may not stay that way. "One of the main probabilities that's been established...