Chinese Woman Falls Into Volcano, Still Alive

A Chinese tourist survived a fall into the crater of a volcano in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday.

A Chinese tourist survived a fall into the crater of a volcano in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday but efforts to rescue her were suspended at nightfall, a scientist at a local research facility said.

The woman fell more than 100 metres (300 feet) down the steep interior crater wall of the Nyiragongo volcano near Congo's border with Rwanda and came to rest several hundred metres above the lake of lava, said Celestin Kasereka, director the volcanological observatory in the nearby city of Goma.

"She was lying inside the crater, but she was still moving. She was alive," he told Reuters. "They were trying to save her, but the visibility was too bad."

Kasereka said rescue operations would restart early on Saturday.

In 2002, the Nyiragongo volcano sent a river of lava through the centre of Goma killing dozens. Today, it is one of troubled eastern Congo's few tourist attractions. Friday's victim was the second visitor to have fallen into the crater.