Group pelted with boiling rocks and steam in incident triggered when lava came into contact with snow

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

BBC crew members were among 10 people injured when lava flow triggered an explosion as it came into contact with snow on Mount Etna in Sicily on Thursday.

Six of the crew were taken to hospitals in Catania and nearby Acireale. Their injuries were not believed to be serious.

The broadcaster’s global science correspondent, Rebecca Morelle, was among the team on the volcano at the time of the eruption, which came from a crater on the south-eastern side of the 3,000-metre peak.



She tweeted: “Lava flow mixed with steam – caused huge explosion – group pelted with boiling rocks and steam.”

Rebecca Morelle (@BBCMorelle) Running down a mountain pelted by rocks, dodging burning boulders and boiling steam - not an experience I ever ever want to repeat (8)

Morelle said the blast caused head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises, and that one volcanologist had told her it was the most dangerous incident he had experienced in his 30-year career.

It was a “reminder of how dangerous and unpredictable volcanoes can be – everyone had a very lucky escape”, she wrote.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Etna in the early hours of Thursday. Photograph: Salvatore Allegra/AP

A 78-year-old woman was among those quickly brought to safety, she said.

It is the third time in less than three weeks that Europe’s most active volcano, which overlooks the city of Catania, has erupted, spewing lava almost 200 metres into the sky.

“It’s difficult to say whether this has been the most dangerous eruption in 30 years,” Stefano Branca, a volcanologist at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, said.

“But if it had happened in August, when there isn’t any snow, it wouldn’t have been as significant. This type of eruption is an exception.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A tourist on Mount Etna in February as it spews lava during an eruption. Photograph: Antonio Parrinello/Reuters

The volcano is still erupting, but the situationwas under control, he said.

Mount Etna, a Unesco world heritage site since 2013, can burst into life several times year.



Its last major eruption was in 1992, when the town of Zafferana Etnea was in the path of the lava flow. Some homes were buried by the lava, but no one was killed.

Along with Vesuvius near Naples, Etna is among 16 volcanoes in the world categorised as ‘decade volcanoes’, which means they have to be closely monitored because of their frequent activity and densely populated surroundings.