Mount Etna eruption: Moment tourists flee volcano as it spews thick smoke and lava

Mount Etna: People flee as volcano erupts in Sicily

An extraordinary clip shared on social media shows the moment dozens of tourists on Mount Etna flee as the Italian volcano spews a large plume of smoke. Hordes of tourists can be seen milling around on the moon-like rocks of the top of the volcano as an enormous cloud of ash starts to fill up the horizon.

Incredibly some of the tourists appear to stand and watch as the giant volcanic cloud fills the sky, while others start running at speed presumably to try and start heading off the mountain. The footage was posted on X by user, @aurelienpouzin, and in the video you can hear the roaring sound of the eruption as thousands of tonnes of rock and ash are thrown into the sky.

Stunning pictures show the Strombolian eruption cloud dwarfing the nearby bustling port city of Catania, which is home to around 300,000 people. According to the Natural History Museum, Strombolian eruptions are short in duration and have explosions that generate plumes known as fire fountains that reach hundreds of metres in height and throw out ash, volcanic bombs and ballistic blocks into the atmosphere.

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Mount Etna erupts as tourists watch just a few hundred metres from the crater (Image: @aurelienpouzin/ X)

Despite being an active volcano, Mount Etna draws around 1.5 million tourists to the surrounding area every year with many coming for the view of the stunning mountain and hundreds of thousands hoping to climb it.

In a statement the Diocese of Acireale, the Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church located in Sicily, posted on X: "Our volcano Etna makes itself heard, reminding us with strength and majesty of the power of the nature that surrounds us.

"From the Milo community, the gaze opens onto a landscape that blends awe and beauty, silence and wonder."

Local news site Catania today reported small amounts of "fine ash" had been seen falling in the Piano Vetore area and that there was a small lava overflow on the southern edge of the crater and a "modest" lava flow in the direction of Valle del Bove.

Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said: "The forecast model indicates that an eruptive cloud produced by the ongoing activity would disperse in a west-southwest direction. From a seismic point of view, the tremor amplitude values ​​are currently high with a tendency to increase further."

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world (Image: Getty)

Airline pilots have been issued with a red alert following the eruption on Sicily this morning. Volcanic ash can damage aircraft engines and although no volcanic ash cloud was detected in initial satellite imagery, a cloud primarily composed of water vapor and sulfur dioxide was observed drifting southwest.

Volcanic ash is hard and abrasive, and can quickly cause significant wear to propellers and turbocompressor blades, and scratch cockpit windows, impairing visibility.

Previous large eruptions around the world have seen planes grounded for days due to the potential risk. The red alert was downgraded to orange three hours after it was first issued. It currently remains at orange.