The Nyiragongo volcano in Congo erupted for the first time in nearly 20 years this evening, coloring the night sky a fiery red and flooding a large highway as panicked residents tried to escape Goma. a city of nearly 2 million inhabitants.
No evacuation order has been given by the authorities and there are currently no reports of victims. Witnesses, however, said the lava had already engulfed a highway connecting Goma with the city of Beni in North Kivu province.
The last eruption of Mount Nyiragongo, in 2002, left hundreds of deaths and airport runways covered with lava. Authorities from the Goma Volcano Observatory initially said it was the nearby Nyamulagira volcano that had exploded, adding only confusion. The two volcanoes are located about 13 kilometers apart.
