At a Glance
- Mount Nyiragongo erupted for the first time in nearly 20 years Saturday.
- Mounds of lava covered homes in the Buhene neighborhood at the edge of Goma.
- Hundreds were killed in 2002 when the volcano last erupted.
Thousands of people fled as a volcano in the African country of Congo unleashed huge lava flows that turned the night sky red and destroyed more than 500 homes.
At least 15 people have been killed, the Associated Press reported Sunday afternoon.
Mount Nyiragongo erupted for the first time in nearly 20 years Saturday driving lava toward the city of Goma, which has a population of almost 2 million.
On Sunday, Buhene, a neighborhood at the edge of the city, was covered in smoldering heaps of cooling lava. A half-mile-wide river of lava engulfed an area the size of several city blocks, the New York Times reported.
“We have seen the loss of almost an entire neighborhood," Innocent Bahala Shamavu said, according to the Associated Press. “All the houses in Buhene neighborhood were burned and that’s why we are asking all the provincial authorities and authorities at the national level as well as all the partners, all the people of good faith in the world, to come to the aid of this population.”
Aline Bichikwebo told AP she tried to save her father but she wasn't strong enough to move him before their home was ignited by lava. Bichikwebo's mother also died.
“I am asking for help because everything we had is gone,” said Bichikwebo, who managed to escape with her baby. “We don’t even have a pot. We are now orphans and we have nothing.”
The lava appeared to have stopped flowing about 3 a.m. Sunday, seven hours after the eruption began, the New York Times reported.
Residents began returning to Goma Later Sunday to check on their homes.
There was no official report on how many people had died. The New York Times reported that authorities said at least five people had died in accidents as they left the city.
When the volcano began erupting, thousands fled. Some boarded boats on Lake Kivu, which lies on the border between Congo and Rwanda. About 5,000 people crossed the border into Rwanda. Another 25,000 went northwest toward the town of Sake, according to UNICEF.
The U.N. children's agency said more than 170 children were still feared missing.
In 2002, an eruption of Mount Nyiragongo killed hundreds and left more than 100,000 homeless, according to AP.
In 1977, the 11,385-foot volcano killed thousands as lava roared down the mountainside at more than 60 mph, according to the Times.
On Sunday, Nyiragongo continued to cause tremors into the afternoon. Patrick Muyaya, a spokesman for the Congolese government, tweeted on Sunday that the immediate threat appeared to have passed.
“Local authorities who have been monitoring the eruption overnight report that the lava flow has lost intensity,” he said on Twitter.
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