Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, suddenly erupted on Saturday, spraying red smoke into the night sky, news agencies reported.
People seized mattresses and other belongings and fled to the border with nearby Rwanda when a red light filled the sky above the city and power was cut off.
Dario Tedesco, a volcanologist in the city by the lake of about 2 million, told Reuters that Goma did not appear to be in danger, and lava appeared to flow eastward towards the Rwandan border. He had previously said that he thought lava could hit Goma, but he later said that this was not the case.
Goma sits on the southern flank of the mountain and overlooks Lake Kivu.
“The sky has turned red,” a resident, Carine Mbala, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone.
“It smells like sulfur. In the distance you can see giant flames coming out of the rock.
“But there has been no earthquake,” she added.
A UN source said that a reconnaissance flight with a UN helicopter seemed to show that the lava did not flow towards Goma or any major population centers.
“The government is closely monitoring the situation in Goma,” Congolese spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on Twitter.
“The local authorities are currently evaluating the situation with the volcanological observatory in Goma … The population is being encouraged to remain calm.”
Nyiragongo last erupted in 2002, killing 250 people and leaving 120,000 homeless after lava flowed into Goma. Tedesco said the volcano has some of the fastest lava flows in the world.
Volcanic observers have been concerned that the volcanic activity observed over the past five years reflects that of the years before the 1977 and 2002 eruptions.
The Goma region, located in northern Kivu province, which borders Rwanda and Uganda, has six volcanoes, all higher than 3,000 meters (984 feet).
Volcanologists at the Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG), which monitors Nyiragongo, have struggled to carry out basic checks since the World Bank cut funding amid allegations of embezzlement.
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