Sicily’s Mount Etna erupts in a fiery show of smoke and ash miles high

MILAN AP Sicily s Mount Etna put on a fiery show Monday sending a cloud of smoke and ash several kilometers miles into the air but authorities declared the activity posed no danger to the population The level of alert due to the volcanic activity was raised at the Catania airport but no immediate interruptions were published An official update declared the ash cloud emission had ended by the afternoon Italy s INGV National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology disclosed the spectacle on Europe s bulk ongoing volcano was caused when part of the southeast crater collapsed resulting in hot lava flows It was the th eruptive phase in new months The area of danger was confined to the summit of Etna which was closed to tourists as a precaution according to Stefano Branca an INGV official in Catania Sicily s president Renato Schifani noted lava flows emitted in the eruption had not passed the natural containment area and posed no danger to the population The event was captured in video and photos that went viral on social media Tremors from the eruption were widely felt in the towns and villages on Mount Etna s flanks Italian media disclosed Video exhibited tourists running along a path on the flank of the vast volcano with smoke billowing particular distance in the background Excursions are popular on Etna which is selected meters nearly feet high with a surface area of specific square kilometers about square miles