Mount Etna Erupts in Italy, Suspending Flights

No injuries have been reported
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 21, 2023 10:50 AM CDT
Mount Etna Erupts in Italy, Suspending Flights
   (Getty Images / Heiti Paves)

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, was erupting on Sunday, spewing ash on Catania, eastern Sicily’s largest city, and forcing a suspension of flights at that city’s airport. The AP reports that Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, which closely monitors Etna with instrumentation on the slopes, noted that cloud cover on a rainy day was impeding views of the eruption, which often serves up a spectacular display of flaming lava during the volcano’s not infrequent eruptions. The institute said that ash had fallen on Catania and at least one town on Mount Etna’s inhabited slopes. No injures were reported. Catania airport said due to ashfall, flight operations were temporarily halted.

INGV indicated that monitoring had recorded evidence of a stepping up in tremor activity in recent days. People in the towns of Adrano and Biancavilla reported hearing loud booms emanating from the volcano on Sunday, the Italian news agency ANSA said. Italy's national Civil Protection agency had noted on Thursday in an alert that in view of increased volcanic activity, “sudden” variations of Etna's activity could occur. In early 2021, an eruption of the volcano lasted several weeks.

(More volcano eruption stories.)

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