Four experts from DR Congo’s Goma Volcano Observatory took the trail up Mount Nyiragongo last week to get a closer look at the volcano which last month spewed rivers of lava and forced the evacuation of a city

Thousands of people have fled the Congolese city of Goma, some picking their way across landscapes scarred with lava, after officials said a second volcanic eruption could happen at any time.

Thirty-one people were killed on Saturday evening when Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, sent a wall of orange lava downhill towards the city, destroying 17 villages on the way. The lava stopped just 300 metres short of Goma airport, the main hub for aid operations in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Thousands flee Goma after DR Congo warns of new volcano eruption
  

More than 500 homes have been destroyed by the lava that has poured into villages, officials and survivors say

At least 15 people died when torrents of lava poured into villages after dark in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, destroying more than 500 homes, officials and survivors said on Sunday.

The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo on Saturday night sent about 5,000 people fleeing from the city of Goma across the nearby border into Rwanda, while another 25,000 others sought refuge to the north-west in Sake, the UN children’s agency said on Sunday.

Thousands of residents abandoned their homes as the city of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was thrown into panic when a nearby volcano erupted. Lava from Mount Nyiragongo destroyed homes on the edge of Goma, which has a population of about 1 million people, but appeared to be slowing by midday on Sunday, giving hope that further damage could be avoided

• DRC: Goma residents flee as Nyiragongo lava reaches city outskirts