The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said children died in the turmoil as residents fled the nearby city of Goma on Saturday. Authorities said more than 150 children have been separated from their families and more than 170 children could go missing.

According to the Rwanda Ministry of Emergency Management, about 8,000 people traveled from the DRC to Rwanda after the eruption and sought evacuation. Some came back a day later. Thousands of sesame inhabitants spent Saturday nights outdoors after the eruption, according to a spokesman for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

A spokesman for the Democratic Republic of the Congo government told CNN on Monday that he had not officially advised those who had evacuated to return home as seismic activity continued to be recorded at the volcano.

Evacuees walked towards Rwanda on Saturday, said Tom Peile Costa, a spokesman for NRC’s West and Central Africa, on Sunday. As the border was closed, they returned to Goma and headed for the northern part of the city. Peyre-Costa Post to Twitter Video of people leaving the city

“Everywhere in the city, there are people walking with their belongings, children, goats, and what they can get. Most of them sit by the road and can quickly return. I’m waiting, “said Peyre-Costa.

But hundreds of people could damage their homes and come back to find a dangerous shortage of water and electricity, UNICEF said.

The Children’s Department has sent a team to the area to limit the spread of cholera. We are also working with local DRC authorities to establish two transit centers for unaccompanied and distant children.

Deadly eruption

According to a government statement, the volcano began erupting at 6 pm local time on Saturday and eventually slowed at 4 am on Sunday. The lava stopped just 1.2 kilometers (about 0.7 miles) from the Goma Gate, he said.

Honore Ciraba, a volcanologist at the Goma Volcano Observatory, told CNN that there were two fractures in the volcano. The eruption was triggered when a volcanic fissure opened, causing lava to flow in different directions, Reuters reported.

The United Nations, the World Bank, and others predict that sesame, located on the shores of Lake Kivu on the DRC border with Rwanda, is home to about 670,000 people, but many non-governmental organizations in the region have that population. One million.

Residents who fled the fierce scene on Saturday headed for sake-producing areas or in the direction of neighboring Rwanda, according to a government statement. A total of 17 villages were attacked, including Buhene, Katoi and Magengo, according to a government statement.

NRC estimates that 600 homes around Goma have been destroyed and five schools have been flattened.

Theophile Turinabo, who fled his home after the eruption, said from Buhene: I don’t know at this time. “

Another resident, Flaha Grace, talking to CNN in Buhene, said she was in a local market when she had to escape the eruption.

“When we returned to the city, the house was burnt and some people were left poor. I had an accident and was injured,” she said, calling for help and food.

Three health facilities, one school, a slaughterhouse and a water pipeline in the area were also affected, according to a government statement.

Deaths are expected to “significantly increase,” according to Reuters.

Ernestine Kabuo, 68, told Reuters that she tried to take her sick husband out of the house when the lava approached, but was too ill to leave.

“I told myself, I can’t go alone, we got married for the best and the worst,” Kabuo told Reuters. “I at least tried to get him out, but I couldn’t. I ran away and he got burned inside. I don’t know what to do. I curse this day,” she said.

The last major eruption of Mount Nyiragongo 250 people died in 2002 And banished thousands.

The 3,470-meter volcano is one of several volcanoes near the DRC border between Rwanda and Uganda, a region of rainforest and rare mountain gorillas.