'Ash to cash': Montserrat gambles future on the volcano that nearly destroyed it

Twenty years on, the island invests in sand mining and geothermal energy to reconcile with the Soufriire Hills eruptions that once buried it in mortal dust

All that can be seen of Plymouth, Montserrat, is a scattering of roofs and the top floors of the tallest buildings, just poking out from a barren landscape of ash and boulders.

The rest of the town is buried: a modern Pompeii slowly being reclaimed by the mountain.