Goma Airport Reopens Two Weeks After Volcanic Eruption: AFP

Goma, DR Congo, June 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jun, 2021 ) :The international airport in DR Congo's Goma reopened Saturday, two weeks after a devastating volcanic eruption near the eastern city, with the arrival of a plane carrying the prime minister.

An AFP journalist said Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde's plane touched down shortly after 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) at the airport, closed since May 23.

Lukonde is heading a ministerial team to "take stock of the situation by meeting local officials and reinforce state intervention for humanitarian aid", said a government spokesman.

The prime minister left straight for Goma's city centre after arriving, an AFP journalist said.

About 400,000 residents out of an estimated 600,000 left the North Kivu provincial capital after a brief one-day eruption of Nyiragongo, a strato-volcano nearly 3,500 metres (11,500 feet) high that straddles the East African Rift tectonic divide.

Thirty-two people died from lava burns or asphyxiation after the May 22-23 eruption, and two more died in accidents during the exodus.