Volcanoes Italy

Two earth tremors shook Mt. Etna on Monday as Europe's highest and most active volcano spewed lava for the fifth successive day. The tremors, seven hours apart, were the first on Etna since eruptions started Sept. 11, blasting out chunks of rock, ash and lava. The lava flow, now nearly five miles long, has been moving down the volcano's southeast slopes since a fissure opened last Thursday.

Red-hot lava destroyed a cable car station and surged over man-made barriers Tuesday, drawing closer to a popular tourist complex halfway up Mt. Etna. A flow of lava nearly 500 feet wide overran two walls of earth and rock erected to protect the complex--a hostel and a cluster of restaurants and souvenir stands--and was about 165 feet away.

Fountains of lava spewed Saturday from a new crater on Mt. Etna and sent a red-hot river of lava flowing down the eastern slope of Europe's most active volcano. Scientists said the lava gushed from a 500-foot crater that opened 8,500 feet up the mountain after a series of tremors on Thursday. News reports said the river of lava was 15 yards wide and had snaked down to the 4,500-foot level, still oozing forward at about 10 yards an hour. Mt. Etna began its latest eruption on Sept. 11.

With Mt. Etna belching plumes of flame and ash, workers relentlessly bulldozed dirt and volcanic rock into 10-foot walls Friday, hoping to prevent lava from swallowing a string of souvenir shops and a cable-car base. The work became more frantic after the flow from Europe's most active volcano burned a wooden warehouse Friday morning, just hours after it poured over a protective embankment and across an empty parking lot.

Smoke and ash billowed from Mt. Etna on Saturday, but officials said there was no immediate danger from the volcano to any nearby towns.

Mt. Etna rained ashes and stones the size of walnuts on villages on its lower slopes Wednesday in the third straight day of activity from the volcano. Authorities said no one was injured but dozens of cars were damaged and ash an inch thick covered roads. The new burst of activity began at 9 a.m. and lasted 15 minutes, shooting stones as high as 1,500 feet from a crater on the southeast slope.

Sicily's Mt. Etna, Europe's most active volcano, continued to erupt as a lava flow edged closer to a town nestled on the mountain's slopes. The mayor of Nicolosi, 10 miles downhill from the crest of the flow, said he feared that the town could be in danger in the next week and asked for help to divert the lava. "The situation is critical," Salvatore Moschetto told ANSA news agency.

Archeologists have found eight more victims of the volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii on Aug. 24, AD 79. Two more mummified bodies were dug out of hardened volcanic ash at the spot where six others were discovered the day before. The smallest body was that of a teen-age girl, wearing a ring to indicate she was a slave. The bodies were the first victims of the disaster found since 1961.

Stiff winds Monday thwarted an attempt by helicopter-borne crews to "plug" an underground river of lava feeding a flow of molten rock down Europe's most active volcano. But further down Mt. Etna, a lava front moving toward the town of Zafferana appeared to be slowing down, and the immediate threat to houses on the volcano's slopes receded. A helicopter carrying U.S. Marines and Italian sailors and buffeted by high winds was forced to jettison a 5,000-pound steel platform on the mountainside.

The flow of molten lava from Mt. Etna slowed Friday, granting a respite to the embattled Sicilian village of Zafferana and its 7,000 people. Experts said the lava was emerging from a new fissure at an elevation of about 3,250 feet and dispersing laterally before it could threaten the village. "We don't know if the advance has been halted by our interventions or naturally," chief government volcanologist Franco Barberi said. "The important thing is that it has stopped."

Sicily's Mt. Etna, Europe's most active volcano, continued to erupt as a lava flow edged closer to a town nestled on the mountain's slopes. The mayor of Nicolosi, 10 miles downhill from the crest of the flow, said he feared that the town could be in danger in the next week and asked for help to divert the lava. "The situation is critical," Salvatore Moschetto told ANSA news agency.

Lava poured out of Mt. Etna overnight, but a man-made barricade diverted the flow away from Zafferana, a farming town on the slopes of the volcano, experts said. "One can say that certainly, for some weeks, Zafferana is safe," one volcanologist, Franco Barberi, told RAI television in an interview from a slope of the 12,000-foot mountain. Since the volcano began erupting in December, molten lava has come to within half a mile of Zafferana, a town of 7,000 that produces honey and fruit.

The flow of molten lava from Mt. Etna slowed Friday, granting a respite to the embattled Sicilian village of Zafferana and its 7,000 people. Experts said the lava was emerging from a new fissure at an elevation of about 3,250 feet and dispersing laterally before it could threaten the village. "We don't know if the advance has been halted by our interventions or naturally," chief government volcanologist Franco Barberi said. "The important thing is that it has stopped."

Stiff winds Monday thwarted an attempt by helicopter-borne crews to "plug" an underground river of lava feeding a flow of molten rock down Europe's most active volcano. But further down Mt. Etna, a lava front moving toward the town of Zafferana appeared to be slowing down, and the immediate threat to houses on the volcano's slopes receded. A helicopter carrying U.S. Marines and Italian sailors and buffeted by high winds was forced to jettison a 5,000-pound steel platform on the mountainside.

A river of lava from Mt. Etna reached the last barrier protecting this village early today, and officials prepared explosives and concrete blocks in hopes of diverting the steaming black flow. There were no immediate plans to evacuate the village's 7,000 residents. But dozens of army trucks were ready to help clear the village, about 100 miles southeast of Palermo.

Soldiers put the finishing touches Tuesday on a 50-foot-high, 825-foot-long earthen wall at the base of Mt. Etna, declaring victory--for the moment--against the volcano's 10th major eruption this century. Nervous citizens of Zafferana Etna, a town of 7,000 in the shadow of the volcano, expressed relief. A four-mile flow of lava had been heading for the village until it ran out of energy a few days ago.

Soldiers put the finishing touches Tuesday on a 50-foot-high, 825-foot-long earthen wall at the base of Mt. Etna, declaring victory--for the moment--against the volcano's 10th major eruption this century. Nervous citizens of Zafferana Etna, a town of 7,000 in the shadow of the volcano, expressed relief. A four-mile flow of lava had been heading for the village until it ran out of energy a few days ago.

Lava poured out of Mt. Etna overnight, but a man-made barricade diverted the flow away from Zafferana, a farming town on the slopes of the volcano, experts said. "One can say that certainly, for some weeks, Zafferana is safe," one volcanologist, Franco Barberi, told RAI television in an interview from a slope of the 12,000-foot mountain. Since the volcano began erupting in December, molten lava has come to within half a mile of Zafferana, a town of 7,000 that produces honey and fruit.

Archeologists have found eight more victims of the volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii on Aug. 24, AD 79. Two more mummified bodies were dug out of hardened volcanic ash at the spot where six others were discovered the day before. The smallest body was that of a teen-age girl, wearing a ring to indicate she was a slave. The bodies were the first victims of the disaster found since 1961.

Two earth tremors shook Mt. Etna on Monday as Europe's highest and most active volcano spewed lava for the fifth successive day. The tremors, seven hours apart, were the first on Etna since eruptions started Sept. 11, blasting out chunks of rock, ash and lava. The lava flow, now nearly five miles long, has been moving down the volcano's southeast slopes since a fissure opened last Thursday.