Congo residents desperately try to stop lava reaching village after volcano eruption

A group of men trying in vain to redirect the course of the lava coming from Congo’s Mount Nyiragongo could all but watch as the magma reached their village early on Sunday.

Mount Nyiragongo erupted for the first time in nearly two decades on Saturday, turning the night sky a fiery red and sending lava onto a major highway as panicked residents tried to flee Goma, a city of nearly two million.

There was no immediate word on any casualties, but witnesses said that lava had already engulfed one highway that connects Goma with the city of Beni in North Kivu province.