Video | Watch: terrifying scenes as volcanic eruption on Mount Etna injures 10, sends BBC crew running for their lives

Volcanic rocks and steam injured at least 10 people, including tourists, scientists and a BBC crew, following an explosion on Sicily’s Mount Etna on Thursday that sent them running for their lives.

The visitors, who were drawn to Etna to observe the spectacle of the active volcano erupting, were caught by surprise when its flowing magma hit thick snow, causing a phreatic explosion that rained rock and other material down upon them.

BBC journalist Rebecca Morelle and a camerawoman on assignment at the volcano were among the injured. Their film shows an explosion of steam followed by a second explosion of boiling rocks and people running away from the explosion. The clip continues in a snowcat, where a man holds a paper towel to stanch the bleeding from his head and hugs his wife.

Authorities say about 35 tourists were on the volcano when the explosion occurred around midday, and that the guides who accompanied them helped bring them to safety.

The president of the Italian Alpine Club chapter in Catania, Umberto Marino, said he was traveling up the volcano in a snowcat when injured people started running in his direction.

“The material thrown into the air fell back down, striking the heads and bodies of people who were closest,” Marino was quoted by the Catania Today website as saying.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, four people including three German tourists were hospitalized, mostly with head injuries. None of the injuries was listed as grave.

Italy’s volcanology institute said the explosion took place at about 2,700 meters (8,858 feet) above sea level, putting the tourists at more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the base of the newest southeast Mount Etna crater where the lava flow originated.