DR Congo: Rubber “freed” from lava because volcanoes stay out of town Democratic Republic of Congo News

The regional military governor said the lava flow stopped outside the eastern city when thousands of gums were evacuated.

The river of boiling lava erupting from Mount Nyiragon has stopped on the outskirts of Goma and saved the eastern city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the region’s military governor said on Sunday.

A after volcanic eruption which escaped thousands at night “lava stopped near Buhene on the outskirts of Goma … the city was saved,” General Constant Ndima said, and provisional estimates put “five people dead” in related accidents.

On Saturday, thousands of people fled the night and many families slept on the pavement surrounded by their belongings, under a night sky reddened by fire and smoke.

Officials said the lava had reached Goma city airport, although residents had stopped at the edge of the facility.

The rubber appeared quite quiet when dawn came, but people said he was still careful.

“There’s the smell of sulfur. In the distance, huge flames can be seen coming out of the mountain, “Carine Mbala, a resident of the city, told AFP.

On Saturday, Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya said the government had activated the evacuation plan and was “discussing urgent measures to be taken today”.

Earlier Sunday, between 5,000 and 7,000 people arrived in neighboring Rwanda, according to the country’s national media.

The Rwanda Broadcast Agency tweeted photos of people arriving in the Rubavu district but said early Sunday that evacuees had begun to return home.

“At the moment, Congolese who were evacuated to Rwanda due to the volcanic eruption in Nyiragon are returning to their homeland. It looks like the eruption has stopped, ”he tweeted.

The first departures from Gomat also arrived before the official confirmation that Mount Nyiragon had exploded at 19:00 on Saturday afternoon.

In large parts of the city there was no longer power when hundreds of residents began to leave their homes.

Some moved from the southern tip of the city to the border post near Rwanda, and others to the west towards Sake, in the neighboring Masisi region of the Congo.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said he would “suspend his stay in Europe on his return home on Sunday to oversee aid coordination.”

In a May 10 report, the Rubber Volcano Observatory warned of an increase in seismic activity around the volcano and called for careful monitoring.

The last time it exploded in Nyiragon was on January 17, 2002, killing 250 people, relocating another 120,000 and covering almost all of eastern Goma with lava, including half of the airport landing.

During the eruption, the victims were mostly patients or elderly people abandoned to their fate in the northern districts of the city, while some looting also took place.