Tourists have been seen running down the slopes of Mount Etna as the active volcano began to erupt. A number of explosions of “increasing intensity” were recorded in the early hours on Monday morning. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre Toulouse (Vaac) issued a brief “code red” for aviation due to the eruption.
PALERMO JUNE 2: Tourists have been seen running down the slopes of Mount Etna as the highest active volcano in Europe began to erupt. Huge plumes of smoke rose high into the sky in Sicily on Monday morning.
A number of explosions of “increasing intensity” were recorded in the early hours on Monday morning, Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) Etna Observatory said.
The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre Toulouse (Vaac) issued a brief “code red” for aviation due to the eruption. The mountain is one of the most active volcanoes in southern Italy, and last erupted in May.
“Over the past few hours, the activity flagged in the previous statement issued at 4.14am (3.14am BST) has carried on with strombolian explosions of growing intensity that, at the moment, are of strong intensity and nearly continuous,” Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said in a statement. “Over the past few hours, the falling of a little thin ash has been flagged in the Piano Vetore area.”
Mount Etna, or simply Etna, is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina and Catania. In Greek mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods.
