Mount Etna erupts sending tourists fleeing for lives as volcano explodes into life & smoke plume rises from mountain

MOUNT Etna has dramatically erupted, sending tourists fleeing for their lives with smoke billowing from the mountain.

The highest active volcano in Europe began to erupt this morning in tourist hotspot Sicily, Italy.

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Shocked tourists filming the explosion[/caption]

Smoke could be seen over crowds

Mount Etna has dramatically erupted

Getty

Mount Etna exhibits a Strombolian eruption, with a volcanic plume rising from the southeast crater[/caption]

Harrowing footage shows tourists desperately running for their lives as a gargantuan ash cloud forms above them.

Smoke is visible for miles from the mountain.

A terrifying volcanic tremor was felt just moments before the eruption.

The tremor began at roughly 10pm last night before reaching a peak three hours later in the middle of the night.

It was localised at an altitude of 2.8km below the crater area.

Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said: “Over the past few hours, the activity flagged in the previous statement issued at 4.14am (3.14am BST) has carried on with strombolian explosions of growing intensity that, at the moment, are of strong intensity and nearly continuous.”

In the past, Etna’s eruptions have caused nearby towns to be covered in black volcanic ash.

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