Volcano’s eruption sends people fleeing

The eruption of Mount Cameroon volcano has sent people in and around the nearby town of Buea fleeing to Douala and the petroleum mining centre of Limbe to the south. The eruption, Mount Cameroon’s sixth, caused lava to flow down its slopes on Sunday night. No casualties were reported. A journalist in Yaounde told IRIN on Monday that tremors which preceded the eruption damaged houses in Buea, a town of around 100,000 people some 60 km west of Douala, Cameroon’s commercial capital. The source added that the tremors also damaged the local station of Radio Cameroon, forcing it off the air. A government team led by the Minister of Territorial Administration visited the area on Monday, he said. The last time Mount Cameroon erupted was in 1982.