Published
Update
Video length: 1 min
Italy: Spectacular eruptions of Etna and Stromboli
In Sicily, Mount Etna and Stromboli erupted. The alert level for the latter was raised to red, as the holiday season begins. Flights were suspended at Catania airport.
(France 2)
In Sicily, the alert level was raised to red on Friday for Stromboli, as the holiday season begins. Flights have been temporarily suspended at Catania airport.
It is the largest active volcano in Europe. Etna, which dominates Sicily (Italy), erupted, forcing Catania airport to close for a few hours on Friday, July 5. For several days, its central crater had been spewing lava flows and ash clouds affecting the airport below. The ash plumes reached a height of 4.5 kilometers, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV).
About a hundred kilometres further north, on a small island, another volcano, Stromboli, also erupted, with an immense plume of ash and smoke. A new experience for some tourists. “We saw three places where there were significant projections. It was very red and we could see the lava flowing along the sea. It was an exceptional spectacle.”one of them confided.
Italian authorities have issued a red alert for the volcano. For now, the wind is pushing the ash towards the sea and no evacuations have been announced. This volcano, whose summit is 920 metres high and whose base is 2,000 metres below sea level, is one of the few in the world to show almost continuous activity, according to the INGV.
