LAVA from the Mount Cameroon volcano is inching inexorably towards two villages, whose combined population of 1500 residents are preparing to evacuate, national radio said. Local authorities said they are “prepared at any time” to carry out the evacuation of Bakinguili and Batoke, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) west of Yaounde, adding that four army trucks are standing by. If the molten rock continues flowing at its current rate of 25m an hour, or 600m a day, it will reach the first homes on Friday. The lava flow, some 400m wide and between two and three meters deep, has been destroying cropland in its path. Mount Cameroon began erupting on March 28.