The US Air Force evacuated six children who sustained severe burns in the eruption of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano to a specialist hospital in Galveston, Texas, early on Thursday, June 7.

The children and their guardians were transported from Guatemala to Texas in a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. Doctors and nurses from the Shriners Hospitals for Children’s pediatric burn unit arrived in Guatemala within 24 hours of the volcano’s eruption to assist with the evacuation, according to the Houston Chronicle. Dr. Steven Wolf, chief of staff at the Shriners Hospital, said in an interview with the Chronicle the children had sustained contact burns from the ash cloud that emerged from the volcano.

Air Force Lt. Col. Teri Dawn Neely, Medical Crew Director, said four of the patients were in a extremely critical condition and two were in a critical condition.

At least 109 people were killed and 200 more remained missing after a pyroclastic flow swept through villages and towns on the flanks of the volcano on Sunday. Credit: US Air Force via Storyful