Mount Etna LIVE: Huge volcano erupts in Italy as pictures surface

Mount Etna, the highest active in Europe, started erupting once again on June 2. Extraordinary pictures of the massive eruption emerged on Monday morning, showing huge plumes of smoke rising sky high.

's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology issued a statement at 11.03am local time (10.03am BST), saying: "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. Over the past few hours, the falling of a little thin ash has been flagged in the Piano Vetore area."

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