Tourists Flee As Italy's Mount Etna Erupts, Spews Ash Thousands Of Feet Into The Air
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Italy's Mt Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted on Monday, sending ash and rock "several kilometres high" in the air and molten lava down its slopes.
Tourists fled as Italy's Mount Etna volcano erupted on Monday, sending a plume of high-temperature gases, ash and rock 'several kilometres high" into the air and rivers of molten lava down its slopes, according to Italian authorities.
The volcano, located on the Italian island of Sicily, is a popular tourist destination visited by 1.5 million people every year. It is one of the world's most active volcanoes, but no eruption of the magnitude seen today had occurred since 2014, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Observatory.
The eruption, which began overnight, produced explosions audible as far as 40-50 km away in the areas of Taormina and Catania, CNN reported. Videos on social media showed the sky covered in plumes of smoke and ash high into the air.
#Etna Collassa porzione del cratere, grosso flusso piroclastico pic.twitter.com/0KopQy0ZtY — Local Team (@localteamit) June 2, 2025
CLIMATE CHANGE – Mount Etna's just coughed up more carbon and sulfur in 24 hours than a year of British farming…But don't worry, pay more tax to subsidise global corporations and that will definitely save the planet 🤡
pic.twitter.com/lL20YumJgx
— Bernie (@Artemisfornow) June 2, 2025
Another video showed crowds of people rushing downhill to escape the eruption, while the owner of a tour company told CNN that 40 visitors were on the Sicilian volcano at the time of the blast.
The Italian observatory said a 'partial collapse" was observed on the northern flank of the volcano's southeast crater. It defined the volcanic activity as a pyroclastic eruption, resulting in a 'significant increase in volcanic tremor and the formation of an eruptive column containing a lethal mixture of high-temperature gases, lava grains, volcanic ash, and rock fragments of various sizes that rapidly descends down the slopes of the volcano."
Despite the intensity of the eruption, no major casualties were reported in the area. Local officials said evacuation orders were not necessary and life continued undisturbed in the towns near Mt Etna, which were well accustomed to frequent eruptions.
Sicily's president, Renato Schifani, said lava flows emitted in the eruption had not passed the natural containment area, 'and posed no danger to the population."
The Sicilian Civil Protection agency issued a Volcanic Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA), which means all flight travel must avoid the area. While the airports in Catania and Palermo remain open, some flights have been diverted.
Mount Etna is considered as the most active volcano in Europe and the most active stratovolcano globally. A stratovolcano refers to a cone-shaped volcano, usually featuring a central crater, and is built up over thousands of years by successive layers of lava from repeated eruptions.
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June 02, 2025, 20:08 IST
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