Lava was seen flowing from a new crack on Mount Etna, which had been virtually dormant since early last year. Photo by AFP
Lava was seen flowing from a new crack on Mount Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily, which had been virtually dormant since early last year, according to local volcano watchers. A spokesman for the institute of vulcanology in the island's capital Catania said a vent had opened in the past two days at a height of about 2,700 metres. Lava was flowing into the uninhabited Bove Valley on Etna's southeastern flank and for the present was no threat to villages lower down, spokesman Giannicola Piccola said. Etna last erupted on June 22, 2001, throwing molten rock 400 metres into the sky and spewing lava down its sides.