Smoke and ash spread around Italy’s Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, during a new eruption on Monday, forcing the temporary closure of Catania airport in Sicily.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said on Twitter that an ash cloud rose 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into the air over a crater in the southeast of the volcano, according to Agence France-Presse.
The agency added that it recorded a gradual rise in seismic volcanic tremor – caused by gas leakage – which could be a sign that Etna is heading towards another spectacular eruption of fiery lava, known as paroxysmal activity.
At 3,324 meters (11,000 feet) high, Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe, and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years.