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THE MASSIVE VOLCANO MOUNT ETNA HAS ERUPTED – FOOTAGE OF HORRIFIED TOURISTS FLEEING TO SAFETY HAS HIT SOCIAL MEDIA – THE ERUPTION TRIGGERED THE AVIATION COLOUR CODE TO BE RAISED TO RED AT

03:32 UTC 11:10, 02 Jun 2025Updated 12:17, 02 Jun 2025 Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe, started erupting once again on June 2 – triggering a red aviation alert to be issued.

Tourist have taken to social media to record themselves fleeing from the giant plume of black smoke as it bellows from of the mouth of the massive volcano. Mount Etna located in Sicily,

Italy holds the title of the most active stratovolcano in the world. Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology issued a statement and said: "Over the past few hours,

the activity flagged in the previous statement issued at 4.14am (3.14am BST) has carried on with strombolian explosions of growing intensity that, at the moment, are of strong intensity and

nearly continuous. "Over the past few hours, the falling of a little thin ash has been flagged in the Piano Vetore area," the statement added. The eruption triggered the Aviation

Colour Code to be raised to Red at 03:32 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), however the alert has since been changed to Orange, at 06:39 UTC. Article continues below Pilots have been warned

to be aware of the potential danger of flying through volcanic ash. Volcanic ash is hard and abrasive, and can quickly cause significant wear to propellers and turbocompressor blades, and

scratch cockpit windows, impairing visibility. Previous eruptions have seen planes grounded for days due to the potential flight risk. A Strombolian eruption is a type of volcanic eruption

with relatively mild blasts. Strombolian eruptions typically consist of ejection of cinders, lapilli, and volcanic bombs, to altitudes of tens to a few hundreds of metres above the volcano.

Prior to the eruption, volcanic tremor were detected gradually and increased since 22:00 UTC on June 1. While no volcanic ash cloud has been detected in initial satellite imagery, a cloud

primarily composed of water vapor and sulphur dioxide (SO2) was observed drifting southwest from the volcano. The Volcanic Discovery website claims volcanic tremors were detected prior to

the eruption at around 10pm local time last night and reached their peak shortly before 1am this morning. Mount Etna stands at around 3,400 metres tall and has a base that measures just

under 100 miles. The volcano's last most recent significant eruption occurred in February 2021. This eruption was characterized by four paroxysmal eruptions within five days, and

produced a 4-km long lava flow which reached the city Valle del Bove. Article continues below The eruption also led to the temporary closures of Catania airport.