NEED TO KNOW
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Mount Etna, Europe’s largest volcano, began erupting once again on June 2
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Tourists were seen fleeing down the slopes of the volcano, while others photographed the eruption just a few hundred yards away
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Mount Etna reportedly last erupted in May 2023
Tourists were seen fleeing Mount Etna in Italy after the volcano’s latest eruption during a national holiday.
Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology announced in a statement that the eruption began in Sicily on Monday, June 2, around 11 a.m. local time.
Images from the volcano at the time of the eruption, shared by The Times and The Telegraph, showed tourists racing down Mount Etna’s slopes as plumes of smoke and ash burst into the air.
Additional footage shared by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology showed pyroclastic flow rushing down the volcano shortly after the eruption.
Meanwhile, just a few hundred yards away, other people were seen calmly taking photographs of the spectacle, according to The Telegraph.
Fabrizio Villa/Getty
Mount Etna exhibits a Strombolian eruption, with a volcanic plume rising from the southeast crater, on June 02, 2025 in Catania, Italy.
At 3327 meters (nearly 11,000 feet), Mount Etna is the tallest volcano in Europe, according to Sicily’s tourism website.
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The volcano last erupted in May 2023, causing the nearby city of Catania to halt flights at its airport, The Telegraph reported.
The most recent eruption took place on the Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day) national holiday in Italy, meaning more people were out and about when the eruption occurred.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Observatory said there has not been an eruption of this magnitude at Mount Etna since 2014, according to CNN.
The observatory reportedly also stated that the explosions are growing in intensity. All flights have been ordered to avoid the area of the eruption, but the airports in both Catania and Palermo are still open.
Read the original article on People
