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HomeEnvironmentMount Etna spews smoke and ash in spectacular new eruption

Mount Etna spews smoke and ash in spectacular new eruption

Mount Etna spews smoke and ash in spectacular new eruption
Mount Etna spews smoke and ash in spectacular new eruption
Mount Etna erupted again on Tuesday (Credits: DAPRESS / SplashNews.com)

Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has erupted again this week spewing clouds of ash and smoke.

The volcano exploded on Tuesday this week, but Italian authorities said it posed no danger to the surrounding villages.

‘We’ve seen worse,’ Stefano Branco, the head of the INGV National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, nonchalantly told Italian news agency AGI.

Estimating that the eruption from Etna’s southeastern crater began late Tuesday afternoon, Branco insisted that the latest burst of activity was ‘not at all worrying’.

Nevertheless, with small stones and ashes raining down, authorities decided to close Catania’s international airport.

Mount Etna, Europe???s most active volcano, spews ash and lava, as seen from Catania, southern Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Mount Etna in Sicily, southern Italy, has roared back into spectacular volcanic action, sending up plumes of ash and spewing lava. (Davide Anastasi/LaPresse via AP)
The eruption spews ash and lava, as seen from Catania, southern Italy (Credits: AP)
Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes, belched smoke and ashes in a new eruption on Tuesday, but Italian authorities said it posed no danger to the surrounding villages. Pictured: Ref: SPL5211703 170221 NON-EXCLUSIVE Picture by: DAPRESS / SplashNews.com Splash News and Pictures USA: +1 310-525-5808 London: +44 (0)20 8126 1009 Berlin: +49 175 3764 166 photodesk@splashnews.com World Rights, No Italy Rights
A vast cloud of smoke and ash rose into the air (Credits: DAPRESS / SplashNews.com)
Lava gushes from the Mt Etna volcano near Catania, Sicily, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Europe's most active volcano came alive around 4 pm local time on Tuesday, according to the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)
Lava gushes from the Mt Etna volcano near Catania, Sicily on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. (Credits: AP)
TOPSHOT - This photo obtained from Italian news agency ANSA shows the Etna volcano in Catania, Sicily, on February 16, 2021 during a spectacular eruption and a strong explosive activity from the south-east crater and the emission of a high cloud of lava ash that disperses towards the south. (Photo by Handout / ANSA / AFP) / Italy OUT (Photo by HANDOUT/ANSA/AFP via Getty Images)
Etna is Europe’s most active volcano (AFP via Getty Images)

The emergency authorities said on their Twitter account that they were monitoring the situation closely in the three villages at the foot of the volcano – Linguaglossa, Fornazzo and Milo.

Images showed a spectacular rose-coloured plume of ashes above the snow-capped summit, but the cloud had largely dissipated by nightfall, while lava flows continued to glow.

At 3,324 metres (nearly 11,000 feet), Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years.

It previously erupted – in equally spectacular fashion – back in December 2020.