A general view of the Serena Hotel in Goma, the DR Congo on October 16 Photo: AFP

The reappearance of a lava lake in the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is a good sign, experts said Sunday, four months after a major eruption killed 32 people.

Nyiragongo's eruption on May 22-23 spewed out lava that buried homes in its wake, stopping just short of the northern outskirts of Goma, a city of some 600,000 people.

Celestin Kasereka Mahinda,  scientific director of the Goma Volcanology Observatory, said the "reappearance of the lava lake in Nyiragongo's crater" dates from September 18.

"It is not a phenomenon that presents an imminent risk of a new eruption, but rather a phenomenon that allows the volcano to breathe," he told AFP.

"It is a natural sign. The appearance of lake of fire in the crater will minimize earthquakes in the area of Goma."

Nyiragongo, a strato-volcano nearly 3,500 meters high, straddles the East African Rift tectonic divide.

Following the eruption in May, mighty tremors shook Goma, and scientists feared a rare but potentially catastrophic event, a "limnic eruption" under nearby Lake Kivu that would send carbon dioxide gas, dissolved in the depths of the water, up to the surface and suffocate everyone living in the vicinity.

Congo authorities ordered the evacuation of 400,000 people as a precaution. 

After the eruption, the disappearance of lava from the crater sparked fears that it remained buried under Goma. 

"Today Nyiragongo found a way to breathe. It's a good sign," Mahinda said. 

AFP