One Of The World's Highest Active Volcanoes Erupts, Chaos Ensues

Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe, erupted on Monday (June 2), leading to chaos in Sicily.

Videos shared online showed panicked tourists running to safety as massive plumes of smoke filled the sky and an explosion caused nearby homes to shake. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre Toulouse quickly issued a "code red" as volcanic ash started to fall in the popular tourism area, having warned that the volcano was experiencing "strong strombolian activity."

Footage shared on social media showed scared visitors of Mount Etna -- reported to be 3,403 meters (11,165 feet) at its tallest peak in September 2024 -- down the mountainside as the lava began to overflow. Another clip shared by a trekking guide showed smoke thickening as it rose up the active volcano.

Ash plumes were reported to have reached an estimated altitude of 6,400 meters (about 20,997), according to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Toulouse.

Few additional details about the volcano's eruption were made available as of Monday morning. The eruption came days after the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) warned that a massive volcano eruption was possible for Mount Spurr in Alaska amid a recent earthquake surge on May 28.

“Earthquake activity beneath Mount Spurr remains elevated,” the report states. “Following a steady decline from late March through April, shallow earthquake activity has increased in the past two weeks to March levels of about 100 events per week.”

The 11,000-foot volcano remains at an "elevated state of unrest," which means an "explosive eruption" remains possible, though the report claimed that the "likelihood of an eruption continues to gradually decline."