Thousands flock to see weeping virgin in Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia, Apr 25 (Reuters) Thousands of peasants are flocking to see a statue of St Mary near a fire-spitting volcano in southwest Colombia that, they say, is weeping for lack of a village priest.

''They have never sent a priest to live here, which is why the virgin is in pain,'' one parishioner in Genoy, a small town in Narino province, told reporters yesterday.

The community has been disrupted since late last year when the government evacuated people to protect them from the nearby Galeras volcano that spit fire and threatened to erupt in November.

At least 4,000 faithful have come to see the statue since the tears recently appeared. Church officials said they are investigating the case.

''She is doing this because we have been abandoned,'' said a local peasant on TV news, pointing to tears have somehow become fixed on the statue's face. He had been living off and on in displaced persons camps, he said.

A 1993 Galeras eruption killed at least 10 people.

REUTERS SI KN1104