A volcano erupted on the Indian Ocean Comoros islands on Sunday, forcing hundreds of villagers to flee in fear of poison gas as the crater spewed ash and flung boulders over molten lava, witnesses said. Darkness enveloped homes near the summit of Mount Karthala as black rain pounded the mountainside, sparking panic among residents afraid of the kind of noxious fumes that seeped from the volcano a century ago, killing 17 people. "Villagers are in total darkness, gritty rain is falling and visibility is zero," a resident from the village of Idjinkoundzi on the western flank of Mount Karthala, who gave his name as Charif, told Reuters by telephone. The 2,361-metre (7,746-ft) Mount Karthala and its forested slopes form most of the land mass of Grande Comore, the main island in the Comoros chain which lies 300 km (190 miles) off east Africa, and which has witnessed periodic eruptions. Jean Marc, a pilot with Comoros Aviation, who flew over the summit, said: "I saw the start of a lava flow, but for the moment it's confined to the inside of the volcano." Families from the villages of Trelezini and Tsorale piled into taxis and buses and headed for the capital Moroni, which lies on the west coast of Grande Comore, about 15 km (9 miles) from Karthala's crater, which towers above the Indian Ocean. --More 2232 Local Time 1932 GMT
