Mount Etna eruption live: Huge volcano eruption in Italy sends tourists fleeing

Tourists fled from the sides of Sicily’s Mount Etna on Monday after it erupted, sending dense clouds of ash and gas miles into the sky.

Dozens of people were seen scrambling down Europe’s largest active volcano after it was shaken by tremors that were widely felt in surrounding towns and villages.

Billowing clouds were visible from some distance, with images showing the eruption visible from the Ancient Theatre of Taormina, about 45 kilometres away.

Mount Etna has erupted, sending a kilometres-high plume of ash into the sky and sending tourists fleeing from the popular World Heritage area.

Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the eruption began around 3.50am local time (2.50am BST), following volcanic tremors which began around midnight local time.

The institute said eruption activity has continued since then with “increasing intensity” and was currently “almost continuous”.

Back in 2024, a 55-year-old American tourist died after being taken ill during an excursion on the southern side of Mount Etna, in Sicily/

Rescuers said the cause of his illness was unknown, but warned against the risk of high temperatures coupled with humidity that may prove dangerous for tourists who usually have no specific preparation for such excursions.

Read our piece on the tragic incident below.

The volcano is one of the world’s most active, such as in February this year when it spewed hot ash and lava. This time around, a pyroclastic flow of hot rock, ash, and gas was seen falling around 11.30am, while a fountain of lava was emitted from its southeast crater.

Read our dispatch from Sicily, as tourists arrive in the Italian island to see the eruption of Mount Etna.

Earlier, we reported that there had been a major eruption at Mount Etna in February, prior to today’s incident.

Below, you can read a report from February, detailing how tourists were discovered rushing towards – not away from – the spewing, Sicilian lava.

Local Scottish outlet EdinburghLive is carrying eyewitness reports from holidaymakers on board an EasyJet flight to Sicily from the Scottish capital.

Passengers flying over the island watched Mount Etna erupt as they were preparing to land.

A 33-year-old passenger told the local outlet: “If I’m honest, I don’t think anyone knew at all what was going on, and I didn’t want to alarm anyone by announcing that I thought that was the volcano erupting!

“It wasn’t until we landed and checked our phones that everyone started panicking a little bit.”