Five people died in a vehicle accident involving a truck that was fleeing Congo’s regional capital of Goma on Sunday amid a volcanic eruption in the area that forced thousands to leave their homes.
The Associated Press reported that regional officials put the death toll at 15, including the five who died in the crash, on Sunday as authorities scrambled to assist locals evacuate in the face of major lava flows.
The city’s Buhene neighborhood was hit particularly hard by the eruption, with one resident telling the AP that most of the area was burned by advancing lava. Some residents reportedly died in their homes, unable to escape in time.
“We have seen the loss of almost an entire neighborhood,” Innocent Bahala Shamavu told the news service. “All the houses in Buhene neighborhood were burned and that’s why we are asking all the provincial authorities and authorities at the national level as well as all the partners, all the people of good faith in the world, to come to the aid of this population.”
The city’s airport appears to be mostly undamaged, according to the AP, but at least one major highway did not fare as well.
Goma is home to roughly two million people in total, and news reports indicated that there was little if any evacuation warning given before the eruption began on Saturday.