Lava forces 500,000 to flee

Fires burned out of control in the eastern Congo town of Goma today after a nearby volcano erupted, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee and sending rivers of lava flowing through the streets.

It was reported that a total of up to 500,000 people from the area may have poured across the border to Gisenyi in neighbouring Rwanda.

They fled to escape both the lava and violent earth tremors. Goma officials reportedly shot some people who were trying to loot shops. At least 14 villages north of the town were destroyed by three rivers of lava flowing from Mount Nyiragongo, 30 miles away. Many of the fires in Goma were started when the lava, which reached an airstrip by a UN base, came in contact with petrol stored in buildings and garages.

"There is still volcanic activity, but a considerable number of people are coming back," said a UN peacekeeping officer in Goma, where the civil war broke out in 1998. "There is still lava flowing into the town and outside the town. Basically it's cut a swathe 50-60 metres wide through the town, on either side for 10-15 metres wooden houses have burnt." The lava, he added, was flowing into Lake Kivu.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. But the head of Rwandanbacked rebels who control the region around Goma said there was an urgent need for clean water because the lake - the main source of supply - was "deeply polluted by the lava".

Many of the rebel officials who initially joined those fleeing to Gisenyi returned to Goma today to assess the damage. "It seemed as though the whole of Goma left on foot," said Rosamund Carr, an American who runs an orphanage in Gisenyi and lives half a mile from the border.

"They were streaming by in front of my house, and at least 50 people slept at my gate. The sky was totally scarlet, there were terrible earthquakes, and the flames seemed to be about two yards from the orphanage."

By morning, she said, the tremors had died down from "about one every 40 seconds to one an hour".

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