The volcanic eruption in eastern slotxo Congo two days ago has killed at least 32 people, officials said Monday as residents searched for missing loved ones amid destroyed homes on the outskirts of the eastern city of Goma where aftershocks were detected.
With little warning Mount Nyiragongo turned the dark sky fiery red Saturday night and then spewed torrents of lava into villages destroying more than 500 homes, officials and survivors said.
The toll Monday increased from 22 to 32, and was likely to continue rising, saidccording to Joseph Makundi, head of Civil Protection for the North Kivu province. More than a dozen people died in car accidents while trying to escape, he said. Others were killed when lava hit their homes.
Some died Monday from inhaling smoke or toxic gas when they were walking across a wide expanse of the cooling lava, the scientific director of the Volcanic Observatory of Goma, Celestin Kasereka Mahinda, told The Associated Press.
They were traveling on the road between Kibati and Goma that was cut off by a flow of lava 1,000 meters (about a half-mile) wide, he said.
“The population of Goma must avoid unnecessary travel, but also not visit places that have been hit by lava from the volcano because these lavas are toxic and harmful,” he said.
Grief, disbelief and fear hung over the area as a delegation of government ministers, including Congo's health minister, visited Goma after flying in from neighboring Rwanda.
Scientists at the volcano observatory weren't able to adequately warn the public of the eruption because of a funding cut, Mahinda said.
“The observatory no longer has the support of the central government or of external donors, which explains why the volcanic eruption was such a surprise,” Mahinda told The Associated Press. A partnership between the government and the World Bank that had supported the observatory was cut in October 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the observatory without even internet, he said.
