Pelée, Mount (Martinique)

Mount Pelée or Mont Pelée ( pə-LAY; French: la montagne Pelée [la mɔ̃taɲ pəle], lit. 'bald mountain' or 'peeled mountain'; Antillean Creole: Montann Pèlé) is an active stratovolcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of stratified layers of hardened ash and solidified lava. Its most recent eruption was in 1932. The stratovolcano's 1902 eruption destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre, killing 29,000 to 30,000 people in the space of a few minutes, in the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. The main eruption, on 8 May 1902, left only three known survivors. Ludger Sylbaris survived because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell. Léon Compère-Léandre, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns. The third was a young girl named Havivra Da Ifrile, who fled to a nearby sea cave in a boat, enduring burns from falling ash. In 2023, it was listed as UNESCO World heritage site.