Huge eruption on Italy's Mount Etna leaves tourists fleeing volcano

A monolithic eruption astatine Mount Etna has forced tourists to fly nan volcano aft a plume of high-temperature gases, ash and stone "several kilometres high" billowed into nan aerial supra them, Italian authorities say.

Footage posted connected societal media shows agelong lines of group hurrying downhill distant from nan detonation connected Monday while nan proprietor of 1 circuit institution told CNN they had 40 group connected nan Sicilian volcano erstwhile it erupted.

Giuseppe Panfallo, a guideline pinch Go Etna, filmed his circuit group huddled together pinch an tremendous ash unreality successful nan distance.

"We were astir grazed, look astatine this unreality here. We were 2 steps distant and convey goodness we person a responsible guideline pinch us," he says successful nan video shared pinch CNN.

"It arrived each astatine once, an immense smoke, immense, immense roar."

About a twelve circuit operators activity connected Etna astatine immoderate fixed time, nan Sicilian Civil Protection Agency told CNN, adding that they are contacting each of them to guarantee everyone is accounted for.

The volcano connected nan Italian land is simply a celebrated tourer destination visited by 1.5 cardinal group a year, galore of whom trek almost each nan measurement to its summit.

Although Mount Etna is 1 of nan world's astir progressive volcanos, location hasn't been an eruption of this magnitude since 2014, according to nan National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Observatory.

These eruptions often extremity arsenic quickly arsenic they start, nan observatory added, though explosions were still expanding successful strength and nan upland is spewing retired a very mini magnitude of lava and fire.

This eruption, which began connected Monday greeting (Monday evening AEST), produced explosions heard arsenic acold distant arsenic Taormina and Catania, which are astir 50 kilometres and 40 kilometres away, respectively, according to respective witnesses who posted footage connected societal media.

The observatory said that nan preliminary observations show a "partial collapse" of nan bluish flank of nan volcano's south-east crater, which has produced spectacular lava flows during caller eruptions successful nan past fewer months.

None of nan ash is expected to autumn connected Catania, nan metropolis astatine nan ft of nan volcano, though authorities are prepared to alert group to return screen if nan upwind changes, nan city's politician Enrico Tarantino told CNN.

Nearby airports successful Catania and Palermo stay unfastened excessively as, currently, nan upwind is not blowing nan ash successful that direction. The Sicilian Civil Protection Agency instructed each formation recreation to debar nan area and immoderate flights from Catania person been directed to Palermo, according to Flight Radar Data.

Authorities person closed galore of nan roads heading up to nan volcano to forestall group trying to get adjacent to nan eruption and from getting successful nan measurement of first responders and emergency vehicles, Tarantino added.

About 1pm section clip (9pm AEST), nan volcano started spewing basking lava, which is much successful statement pinch erstwhile eruptions, an observatory spokesperson said.

The observatory defined nan volcanic activity arsenic a pyroclastic eruption, resulting successful a "significant summation successful volcanic tremor and nan statement of an eruptive file containing a lethal substance of high-temperature gases, lava grains, volcanic ash, and stone fragments of various sizes that quickly descends down nan slopes of nan volcano".

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