50 killed when lava flows ignite Congo gas station

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Posted 8:01AM on Monday, January 21, 2002

GOMA, CONGO - Lava flows from a volcanic eruption ignited a gas station Monday morning, killing about 50 people who were trying to siphon fuel from the elevated tanks, witnesses said. A massive fireball erupted at 8:30 a.m. Monday, leaving a huge black cloud over Goma more than 1 1/2 hours later. The Congolese were at the station trying to steal gas and diesel fuel when the tanks ignited, killing 50 in the initial explosion, said Chiza Barabara, who lives near the petrol station. Two women and two children were badly injured and were taken to a local clinic, he said. Other tanks exploded after the initial blast, but he knew of no more casualties. The station is located by one of the main lava flows, but the lava has cooled enough for people to walk across it. They were using plastic containers to retrieve the fuel and carry it back. Residents of Goma fled to neighboring Rwanda after Thursday's eruption, which sent three lava flows that destroyed 40 percent of the town. U.N. officials hoped more Congolese refugees would report to tented camps Monday, after thousands ignored their plea. Residents of Goma packed the few possessions they had brought with them and returned home on foot, dodging rivers of molten rock, or climbing over the brittle crust that formed over the lava flows. "I want to return home because my house is still there and I have heard that the lava has stopped," said Augustin Mirenge, a Goma school teacher. "The weather is so cold, we can't go to (the camp). ... It's in a forest, so the conditions are harsh and there are many mosquitos." U.N. officials said they would continue to discourage the 300,000 refugees from returning home, warning that the volcano may still be dangerous and the air polluted with poisonous gases from the lava. But after three days with very little aid, the prospect of living in a camp and a dramatic reduction in the lava flow, Goma residents said they would rather risk going home. While the lava still flows into Lake Kivu, the 165-foot wide paths carved by the lava are no longer expanding. Thousands of Goma residents ran across the fresh volcanic rock Sunday, reaching the opposite side of the divided town for the first time since Thursday, when the eruption began. Mount Nyiragongo, 12 miles north of Goma, sent two lava flows into the city of 500,000. A third flow was coming from a new volcanic crater on the Rwandan border. There have been unconfirmed reports that up to 40 people were killed in the eruption, but Congolese and U.N. officials admit that no one has any firm information about casualties. A few earth tremors continued to shake the region Sunday, but the frequency has dropped from 12 an hour to one every three or four hours. The tremors are a good indication of underground lava flow, either receding or moving up to the surface. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine was scheduled to arrive in central Africa on Monday, accompanied by specialists who will study the civilian risks caused by Mount Nyiragongo. Laura Melo, spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Program, said three U.N. vulcanologists arrived Sunday and have begun studying the volcano. But she said the experts will need several days to complete their work and that until then, U.N. officials would consider the volcano dangerous. "We have been advised that people should, on no account, be advised to go back to Goma now," Melo said. She said it was imperative that the refugees report to the camps in order to receive food, water and shelter. But so far, only about 5,000 people have reported to the two refugee camps, where food was distributed for the first time Sunday. Rebel leaders who control Goma, complained Sunday that three days after the eruption, no aid has reached Goma, where 180,000 residents remain without electricity or drinkable water. Much of the city's food supply was destroyed by the lava when it engulfed 90 percent of the central business district. "It is not a very positive response to the suffering of the people of Congo," said Adolphe Onusumba, the leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma. The International Committee for the Red Cross said Sunday that they have resumed providing materials to Goma's undamaged hospital and was working with Congolese engineers Sunday to repair the water treatment plant. While he would not encourage Congolese to return to Goma, Onusumba said he would not try to stop them. After the Rwandan refugee crisis in 1994, when 1 million Rwanda Hutus entered what was then called Zaire, he said he understood their reluctance to live in a U.N. refugee camp. "You will never convince someone from Goma to live in a refugee camp, they know what it is like," Onusumba said. Nearly 10,000 Congolese already have boarded barges that would take them to other Congolese town, such as Bukavu and Kalemie, where many have family and friends. Many said they didn't want food, only transportation so they won't have to sleep in Gisenyi's sidewalks, churches and schools. The 11,381-foot Nyiragongo and 10,022-foot Nyamulagira volcanoes north of Goma are the only two active ones in the eight volcanos in the Virunga chain. Nyiragongo last erupted seriously in January 1977.