Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Italy’s Stromboli Volcano Erupts, Sparking Huge Ash Cloud

Italy’s Stromboli volcano off the coast of Sicily erupted Wednesday, according to fire fighters who rushed to put out wildfires sparked by lava flows.

ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s Stromboli volcano off the coast of Sicily erupted Wednesday, according to firefighters who rushed to put out wildfires sparked by lava flows.

Emergency services scrambled to launch motorboats and helicopters after the "strong explosion" in the south-central slope of the crater shook the island, but no one was hurt, the fire service said on Twitter.

Falling ash from a vast mushrooming cloud covered the roofs of houses in the tiny windswept town of Stromboli, the Repubblica newspaper said, adding that the explosion had been felt on the nearby island of Salina.

The volcano, which is part of the Aeolian Islands archipelago in southern Italy, had been off limits to walkers following a deadly eruption in June which killed a hiker and sent tourists fleeing.

Stromboli, just 4.6 square miles in area and 3,000 feet high, is just the top of a volcano that is largely underwater.

It is one of few in the world with almost continuous activity, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

© Agence France-Presse

Categories / Environment, International

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...