The incredible tongue of fire that the Etna volcano threw on the Mediterranean | Cuyo’s Journal

To the east of the Italian island of Sicily is the Etna volcano which is still active. On Sunday night, he recorded a new eruption of lava, the flow of which fell on the Mediterranean Sea.

Its activity is common because it lies between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, and the African and Ionian microplates. On this occasion, the largest explosion occurred in the southeast crater.

Its column of lava and debris was 5 kilometers high. In turn, it caused a magnitude 2.7 earthquake at the time of the eruption, and sixteen other tremors in 24 hours.

In contrast, his ashes covered the nearest towns. However, this did not affect flights from Catania Airport, located in the city of Sicily.

“The explosive activity in the crater of Sureste was of variable intensity and for the moment it seems to be decreasing again”, explained the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Observatorio Etneo.

The largest active volcano in Europe

The Etna volcano is 3,342 meters high. Each year, it usually has several eruptions; however it is a tourist attraction where you can ski in winter.

It also has villages on its slopes. Some of them are Nicolosi, Zafferana, Milo, Linguaglossa, Castiglione di Sicilia, Randazzo and Bronte.

As for its most historic eruptions, that of 1669 destroyed part of Catania, while that of 1928 devastated the town of Mascali, on the east coast.

Its last activity dates back to 2018, which caused several earthquakes that reached magnitude level 4.