Italy’s Mount Etna erupts, spews ash and lava, tourists panic and flee. Watch dramatic visuals

Italy’s Mount Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupted dramatically on Monday, sending thick plumes of ash and rock ‘several kilometres high’ in the air and streams of molten lava down its slopes.

The sudden, high-intensity eruption triggered panic among tourists at the site, and crowds soon started rushing downhill to escape any tragedy.

The owner of a tour company said that there were around 40 visitors at the site when the Sicilian volcano erupted, said a CNN report.

The volcano, located on the Italian island of Sicily, is a popular tourist destination and is visited by approximately 1.5 million people every year. It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, but no eruption of the magnitude seen on Monday had occurred since 2014, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Observatory.

The eruption that began overnight produced explosions audible as far as 40-50 km away in the areas of Taormina and Catania, CNN reported. Videos on social media showed the sky covered in plumes of smoke and ash high into the air.

The Italian observatory said a “partial collapse” was observed on the northern flank of the volcano’s southeast crater.

It defined the volcanic activity as a “pyroclastic eruption, resulting in a significant increase in volcanic tremor and the formation of an eruptive column containing a lethal mixture of high-temperature gases, lava grains, volcanic ash, and rock fragments of various sizes that rapidly descends down the slopes of the volcano”.

No casualties were reported in the area despite the intensity of the eruption. Officials said evacuation orders were not needed, and life continued undisturbed in the nearby towns, which are well accustomed to frequent eruptions.

The Sicilian Civil Protection agency issued a Volcanic Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA), which implies that all flights must avoid the area.

Mount Etna is considered the most active volcano in Europe and the most active stratovolcano globally. A stratovolcano is a cone-shaped volcano featuring a central crater and is built up over thousands of years by successive layers of lava from repeated eruptions.

Videos from the site soon went viral on social media showing visitors scrambling down the paths as a massive cloud of ash loomed in the sky.

Experts described the blasts as “strombolian” in nature—short, explosive bursts that hurled ash and fragments into the air.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Toulouse, one of nine centres worldwide to monitor aviation risks, warned that the volcanic ash plume had reached an altitude of around 6,400 metres.