Nyiragongo volcano has suddenly returned to activity, spreading red fumes into the night sky in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The evacuation plan has been launched for the city of Goma.
Electricity has been cut in the city and some residents have begun to leave their homes and head for the nearby border with Rwanda. The inhabitants of the area felt a strong smell of sulfur in the streets of the eastern city, which is located on the southern flank of the mountain and on the north shore of Lake Kivu.
Nyiragongo volcano, about 20 kilometers north of the city of Goma and Lake Kivu and a short distance from the border with Rwanda, is one of the busiest in the world. It destroyed half of Goma in its last lethal activity in 2002: 250 dead and 120,000 displaced.
The explosion occurred around 7 pm local time. People grabbed mattresses and other items and fled to the border with neighboring Rwanda as a red glow filled the sky above the city of Goma. Volcanologist Dario Tedesco told a Reuters that Goma appears not to be at risk and that the lava flows east towards the Rwandan border.
Volcano observers are concerned that the volcanic activity observed over the past five years mirrors that of the years preceding the 1977 and 2002 eruptions.
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