Volcanic cloud closes airport after Mount Etna erupts

A cloud of volcanic ash spewing from Europe’s most energetic volcano has prompted the closure of one among Sicily’s largest airports, resulting in flights being delayed, cancelled and diverted.

The island’s Catania worldwide airport, referred to as Catania–Fontanarossa Airport, was to be closed till at the very least 8pm (4am AEST) on Monday following the eruption of close by Mount Etna, the airport press workplace mentioned in an announcement.

“All arrivals and departures are therefore prohibited,” the assertion mentioned, including that “passengers are kindly requested to present themselves at the airport only after consulting their airline”.

A volcanic cloud from Mount Etna has been drifting southward, resulting in an airport closure. (Marco Restivo/Etna Walk/Reuters)

The volcanic exercise, which started late on Sunday (early Monday AEST), developed right into a “lava fountain”, producing a volcanic cloud dispersed in a southerly route, in keeping with the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology’s Etna observatory.

This is “producing a fallout of ash in the southern sector of the volcano and beyond”, it mentioned.

Several flights scheduled to reach in Catania, together with these from locations reminiscent of Malta, France, Austria, and different Italian areas, have been cancelled, delayed, or diverted, in keeping with flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

The closure comes simply days after the airport resumed operations, having been disrupted by a serious fireplace in its terminal constructing in mid-July.

As effectively as being probably the most energetic, Mount Etna is Europe’s highest volcano, at about 3350 metres tall.