bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A huge plume of ash, gas and rock spewed forth on Monday from Italy’s Mount Etna as authorities warned people to steer clear of Europe’s largest active volcano.
Sicily’s Mount Etna has been active recently but Monday’s eruption was the most dramatic, with experts warning that such activity could continue for weeks.
Images showed a massive grey cloud billowing from the volcano on the island of Sicily, beginning at 11.24am local time, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
Surveillance cameras showed “a pyroclastic flow probably produced by a collapse of material from the northern flank of the Southeast Crater”, the agency said.


A pyroclastic flow – which is extremely dangerous – occurs when volcanic rock, ash and hot gases surge from volcanoes.
The explosive activity “had transitioned to a lava fountain”, INGV said, describing jets of lava being sprayed into the air.
By early afternoon, the plume had begun to dissipate.
An initial red alert that INGV issued for aviation authorities – which estimated the height of the volcanic cloud at 6.5km (more than four miles) – was downgraded to orange, then yellow.
Sicily’s nearby Catania Airport remained open Monday.
By midafternoon, INGV said the eruption had stopped, with “no ash cloud produced”.

The president of the region of Sicily, Renato Schifani, said experts had assured him there was “no danger for the population”, with the flow not having passed the Valley of the Lion, an area frequented by tourists.
Videos posted on social media appeared to show tourists hurrying down the side of the volcano, some taking photos, but Agence France-Presse could not determine their authenticity.
“The partial collapse of the Southeast Crater, which generated an impressive eruptive cloud several kilometres high and a pyroclastic flow, is a phenomenon that we follow with extreme caution,” Schifani said.
The head of the regional civil protection unit, Salvo Cocina, recommended that tourists avoid the area.
The intensity of the volcano seen on Monday “is one of the signs of the continuous dynamism of Etna”, the president of the Italian Association of Volcanology, Marco Viccaro, told Corriere della Sera daily.
“The paroxysm that began last night and has continued to grow in intensity, falls within the dynamics of a volcano in persistent activity,” he said, noting that Etna had been active for “several weeks”.

That phase has been marked by “short-duration episodes, with intense energy” but less than those seen between 2020 and 2022, he said.
“This is strombolian activity that is relatively mild in the early stages and then rapidly intensifies until it produces explosions that are fairly energetic in frequency,” he added.
The volcano was in a “recharge phase” in which magma, usually much deeper within the earth, was now closer to the surface.
How much of that magma had risen would determine how long the activity would continue, said Viccaro.
“The evolution depends on the volumes of magma that have entered the upper part of the feeding system,” he said.
The activity, he added: “could evolve over weeks, if not months, with similar episodes to those we have witnessed”.


Style Edit: Bulgari’s festive offerings, from Divas’ Dream to Serpenti Viper jewellery

Who was at the Brunello Cucinelli film premiere, from Jonathan Bailey to Italian PM Giorgia Meloni

Gucci, Prada, Versace face Italy probe over alleged Chinese labour exploitation

Prada has bought Versace for $1.4 billion. Can it make its Milan rival ‘interesting again’?

Italy

Italy’s Mount Etna spews huge plume of ash, gas and rock

Smoke billows from Mount Etna volcano on Monday. Photo: AP

Mount Etna, as seen from Milo, Italy. Photo: Reuters

Tourists tour Mount Etna after its eruption on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Indonesia on high alert after volcano erupts 8 times in 1 weekend

Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupts on Monday morning, as seen from Pululera village in East Flores, Indonesia. Photo: AFP

Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupts on Sunday as seen from Nobo village in East Flores, Indonesia. Photo: AFP

Philippines’ Bulusan Volcano erupts, spewing ash 4.5km high

A still from a social media video shows Mount Bulusan in the Philippines erupting early on Monday morning. Photo: Facebook/Richard.Cortez2

Ash and smoke rises from Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon province, Philippines, on Monday morning. Photo: Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology/EPA-EFE

Motorists manoeuvre along a road covered with volcanic ash from the Bulusan Volcano, in Sorsogon province, the Philippines, on Monday. Photo: Sorsogon Provincial Information Office/EPA-EFE

Volcano erupts in Iceland again, triggering evacuations

Molten lava comes out of a fissure behind a greenhouse on the outskirts of the fishing village of Grindavik. Photo: AFP

Lava spewing out of a fissure in the ground. Photo: AFP

Indonesia’s relentless Mount Ibu erupts 1,000 times this month, displacing thousands

Mount Ibu spewing volcanic material 4,000 meters high during an eruption. Photo: Indonesian Geological Agency/AFP

A rescue team evacuates villagers after the volcanic eruption of Mount Ibu in North Maluku Province, Indonesiaa on January 17, 2025. Photo: Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency/Xinhua

Volcanic materials spew from Mount Ibu. Photo: Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency/Xinhua

One of the world’s most active volcanoes – Hawaii’s Kilauea – is erupting again

A new eruption within the summit caldera of Kilauea, Kaluapele, that began on Monday at the Kilaeau volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. Photo:  US Geological Survey / AFP / Handout

Italy’s Mount Etna spews huge plume of ash, gas and rock

An official update declared the ash cloud emission had ended by later Monday