Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna, erupted on Monday morning, producing an enormous ash cloud “several kilometers high.” The volcano is located in Sicily, Italy, near the city of Catania.
The eruption began at 11:24 a.m. local time, according to reports. Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology warned of “almost continuous” explosions that were of “increasing intensity” caused by a section of Etna’s southeast crater crumbling. Approximately half an hour after it began, the organization reported that the vulnerable area had become a “lava fountain” due to the volcanic explosions.
The eruption caused a pyroclastic lava flow, a dangerous situation that occurs when “volcanic rock, ash, and hot gases” project from volcanoes.
“The partial collapse of the Southeast Crater, which generated an impressive eruptive cloud several kilometres high and a pyroclastic flow, is a phenomenon that we follow with extreme caution,” said Renato Schifani, president of Sicily.
Since 2021, Etna has erupted 17 times, including three weeks in February and March 2021, when there were 11 eruptions.
Videos of Monday’s eruption circulated on social media, with several showing tourists running from the mountain as the gigantic ash cloud approached them. In one of the videos, people hiking the mountain fled as the eruption occurred, with the enormous ash cloud close behind.
Giuseppe Panfallo, a tour guide with the company Go Etna, captured footage of his group while on the mountain as an enormous ash cloud formed in the background. He told CNN about his experience in an interview.
“We were nearly grazed, look at this cloud here. We were two steps away, and thank goodness we have a responsible guide with us,” Panfallo said. “It arrived all at once, an immense smoke, immense, immense roar.”
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Despite the close calls, there were no injuries to anyone in close proximity to the eruption, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported. Later, Sicilian officials said Etna’s eruption posed no “danger to the population,” CBS News reported.
Experts warned, however, that Monday’s eruption could lead to volcanic activity continuing for several weeks.
