Occurring between 2:20am and 3:10am UTC, the eruption saw a sustained lava fountain reach heights of over 1 kilometre, although some jets of hot material made it as high as 3 km above the summit of the volcano.
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In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mt. Etna-Italy’s and Europe’s tallest active volcano-spewed lava and ash into the atmosphere in a brief but spectacular eruption.
It is the first time in two years there has been an eruption. A footage captured by Sicilian photographer Marco Restivo clearly showed Mount Etna’s Voragine crater blasting flame into the sky.
The paroxysmal event last night was among the most violent eruptive episodes of Etna during the past two decades; Voragine had two particularly intense paroxysms previously on 22 July 1998 and 4 Sep 1999, similar to the one last night. Roman records of Mt. Etna’s eruptions date from 122 BC and talk about a huge eruption that had completely blocked the sun rays for several days.
In modern times, many ditches and concrete dams have been constructed to protect villages and towns in the foothills of Etna.
In 2013, the volcano was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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The massive plume was emitted from the Voragine crater, which formed in the volcano’s central crater in 1945.
