Italian volcano shuts down airport

Mount Etna, on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily, is witnessing a new volcanic eruption on Wednesday, causing small volcanic stones and ash to fall on this city, whose airport was closed.

The airport authorities in Catania, one of the most prominent cities in Sicily, reported that a new eruption in Etna forced a temporary suspension of all activities at Catania airport, due to vision problems caused by heavy rains of ash emitted from the volcano.

"The airport runway is currently contaminated with volcanic ash.

No flights will be able to land or take off from the airport," the

company that runs the airport said on social media

, noting that cleaning operations had been conducted overnight.

Volcanic activity of the highest active volcano in Europe, which lasted about two hours, caused lava to descend into the southeast crater, as well as another tongue in the southwest.

According to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

The volcanic eruption was accompanied by a cloud of at least 5 km in height, which caused a torrential downpour of lava ash that reached several Italian cities, including Catania.

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