Footage shared on social media shows huge clouds of black smoke after the eruption
Mount Etna erupted on Monday, sending a cloud of smoke and ash several kilometers (yards miles) into the air, but officials said the activity posed no danger to the population.
The level of alert due to the volcanic activity was raised at the Catania airport, but no immediate interruptions were reported. An official update declared the ash cloud emission had ended by the afternoon.
AP — Italy’s INGV National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the spectacle on Europe’s most active volcano was caused when part of the southeast crater collapsed, resulting in hot lava flows. It was the 14th eruptive phase in recent months.
The area of danger was confined to the summit of Etna, which was closed to tourists as a precaution, according to Stefano Branca, an INGV official in Catania.
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.”
This is a developing story.
