19Jan2002 CONGO: Orange magma pours from Congo volcano.

By Themistocle Hakizimana

ABOVE MOUNT NYIRAGONGO, Congo, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Orange magma spewed from a giant fissure on Nyiragongo volcano on Saturday, tipping a river of lava onto the town of Goma below.

A Reuters television cameraman on a helicopter trip over the crater saw molten rock glow red-hot as it emerged from the flanks of the mountain, then turn black as it pushed over the lips of a 500-metre (1,600 foot)-long fissure and oozed down the slope.

Blazing a five-km (three mile) trail of devastation, the tongue of lava obliterated a huge swathe of jungle on the slopes before bulldozing its way through Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo near Rwanda's border.

Every minute, more of the black slurry inched into the town, razing homes and filling the air with the burning stench of sulphur.

The molten rock spewed into Lake Kivu, sending clouds of steam hissing high into the air for several hundred metres along the lakefront.

"The destruction is staggering, whole sections of the city are covered in black lava, buildings are still smouldering," the Reuters cameraman said after flying over the volcano's slopes.

"The lava is still flowing into the town, but it appears to be slowing down," he said.

The volcanic eruption that started on Thursday has taken a giant hammer to the hills and lush rainforests around Goma, gouging deep holes in the black volcanic earth of the central African country's Great Lakes' Virunga region.

The eruption has also opened a second, much larger chasm stretching about five km between Goma and the volcano.

Bespectacled Rwandan vulcanologist Dieudonne Wafula peered down from a helicopter onto Nyiragongo, seeking clues to its next move from an examination of the crater and the behaviour of a column of white smoke billowing from the mountain.

Wafula said it would take several hours to process his observations from the mission, but the earth tremors that still rock Goma suggest the volcano is far from ready to quiet down.

The giant scar glowed with spots of magma rising from beneath the earth's crust. Jets of steam spurted from the dense tropical canopy at the mouth of the fissure, sending birds and animals fleeing for safety.

On the slope of the volcano, two cars have been trapped on the road, undamaged but marooned by streams of lava.

The city below has not been so lucky.

Source: REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
REUTERS ONLINE - WORLD NEWS SUMMARY 19/01/2002