Lava flow spares Goma city after volcano erupts in DR Congo

Fire and strong fumes emanated from the blackish molten rock as it swallowed up houses, heading towards Goma airport on the shores of Lake Kivu, an AFP correspondent said.

But the military governor of North Kivu province said "the city was spared" after "the lava halted near Buhene on the outskirts of Goma".

The city was ordered to evacuate late Saturday. Five people were killed in accidents during the evacuations, said General Constant Ndima, who was appointed governor early this month when the province was placed under a "state of siege" to combat violence by armed groups.

"Several thefts from shops and an attempted escape of inmates" from the city's prison were reported, but "the situation is under control," he said.The first departures from the city came earlier Saturday even before the official confirmation that Mount Nyiragongo had erupted, spewing red fumes into the night sky.

Thousands fled during the night and many families slept on pavements surrounded by their belongings under a night sky turned red by fire and fumes.

And around a dozen earth tremors were felt in the early hours.

Ndima said around 7,000 people had fled to neighbouring Rwanda, but had begun to return early on Sunday.

Others who sought refuge in the Sasisi region to the southwest "also are beginning to return to the city centre", he said.

Residents reported the smell of sulphur in the air and watched as the sky turned red.

The UN mission to DRC sent a helicopter "above the zone and confirmed the eruption", according to an internal note seen by AFP.

"However the lava is flowing towards Rwanda. The city of Goma and its environs are safe," said the mission, known by its French acronym MONUSCO, which has bases in Goma.

Red skies

Power was already cut in large parts of the city when hundreds of residents began leaving their homes.

Some headed out of the southern end of the city towards the nearby border post with Rwanda, while others headed west towards Sake, in the neighbouring Congolese region of Masisi.

"The sky has turned red," one resident, Carine Mbala, told AFP by telephone.

"There is a smell of sulphur. In the distance you can see giant flames coming out of the mountain.

Increased seismic activity

In a May 10 report, the Goma Vulcanology Observatory warned that seismic activity around the volcano had increased and warranted careful monitoring.

The last time Nyiragongo erupted was January 17, 2002, killing more than a hundred people and covering almost all of the eastern part of Goma with lava, including half of the airport's landing strip.

Hundreds of thousands fled the city.

The deadliest eruption of the 3,000-metre high volcano was in 1977, when more than 600 died.

Goma sits on the mountain's southern flank and overlooks Lake Kivu.

The Goma region, which lies in North Kivu province, bordering Rwanda and Uganda, has six volcanoes, all higher than 3,000 metres.

(AFP)