A frightening night in Goma under its erupting volcano

CHARLES KAMBALE stands amidst smoking, sulphurous rubble, half-heartedly picking scraps of metal off the ground. “This is my home,” he says, quietly. Molten lava began spilling out of fractures in the side of Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano that looms over the city of Goma in eastern Congo, at around 6pm on May 22nd. Mr Kambale was at a wedding with his wife when the eruptions began. His two youngest children, aged six and two, were at home with his neighbours. He has not seen them since. “I plan to make an announcement on the radio to try and find them,” he says.So far, few deaths have been confirmed as a result of the eruption—photos of bodies are circulating on WhatsApp and one official said 15 had died. Many are still missing. Hundreds have lost their homes. Thousands have fled Goma, a ramshackle metropolis on the edge of Lake Kivu. Throughout the night families lugging mattresses and kitchen pots streamed towards the nearby border with Rwanda, as the smoky skies around the volcano glowed orange.