Featured Image Credit: aurelienpouzin / X
There are scenes of chaos in Sicily, all as Mount Etna has once again blown its top.
Although Mount Etna regularly erupts (with a major one as recently as August 2024) and is known for closing Catania Airport, a June 2 eruption seemed particularly volatile.
Even though Etna might not be classed as a supervolcano, its status as a stratovolcano means it shouldn't be underestimated.
With Etna able to spew the same hot rocks and gases that buried Pompei, its place between the cities of Messina and Catania has scientists rightly keeping an eye on when the volcano blows its top.
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Etna has already erupted a dozen times in 2025, but with tourists being filmed fleeing from the slopes, the latest one has gone viral.
Given that Nostradamus seemed to mention an Etna eruption taking place in 2024 or 2025, we're right to be cautious about its recent uptick in volcanic activity.
In the footage, hordes of tourists are seen running down the mountain as a cloud of black ash flies high into the air.
Thankfully, there have been no injuries.
Speaking to CNN, tour guide Giuseppe Panfallo said what it was like to be caught in the blast: "We were nearly grazed, look at this cloud here. We were two steps away and thank goodness we have a responsible guide with us.
"It arrived all at once, an immense smoke, immense, immense roar."
Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reiterated that an ash cloud comprised mainly of water and sulphur dioxide was heading southwest. Still, scientists have been quick to downplay the dangers of Etna, with tours already returning to its slopes.
Around a dozen tours are on Etna at any given time, but all guides and tourists were safely evacuated from the slopes.
The President of the region of Sicily, Renato Schifani, said he's been assured there's "no danger for the population" due to the lava flow not passing the popular Valley of the Lions tourist area.
Schifani added: "The partial collapse of the south-east crater, which generated an impressive eruptive cloud several kilometres high and a pyroclastic flow, is a phenomenon that we follow with extreme caution."
#Etna https://t.co/JVKcqYnFTg pic.twitter.com/IIy1TaMoXx
— 🥗Aurelien Pouzin🍯 (@aurelienpouzin) June 2, 2025
That's not to underestimate the intensity of an Etna eruption, as Stefano Branca, director of the Etna Observatory in Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, said: "Such intense volcanic activity had not been recorded since February 2021."
The agency added that Etna is experiencing 'strombolian explosions', with the University of Reading's Dr. Stuart Black admitting: "Commercial aircraft typically fly at similar altitudes as where the volcanic material is reaching, so persistent activity could force flight rerouting in the region."
The Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre announced a red aviation color code, meaning there's a likelihood of a significant volume of ash in the sky. This has since been downgraded to amber.
