Mount ETNA bursts into Action

Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, erupted on Tuesday, creating a fountain of lava and sending plumes of orange smoke into the sky. The eruption forced Sicily’s Catania Airport to temporarily close — which often happens when the volcano is active.

Residents in the village of Pedara near the crater said it spewed not only ash, but also big chunks of volcanic stones throughout the area, but no injuries or deaths have been reported.

It was a rain of stones, resident Letizia Olivieri told the Associated Press. Something she never saw in her entire life. The Sicilian village was in emergency mode, the mayor said, as residents and municipal teams worked to clean up the ashes on the street Wednesday.

Large streams of red hot lava shot into the night sky as Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, leaped into action. Bursts of sweltering hot lava shot into the sky at around 9 p.m, on Wednesday.

The approximate 10,800-feet-high volcano can burst into spectacular action several times a year, spewing lava and ash high over the Mediterranean island of Sicily. The last major eruption, threatening the small town of Linguaglossa, was in 2002.

Kold News 13 / Crickey Conservation Society 2021.