Mount Etna's volcanic ash causes airport closure

Volcanic ash from Mount Etna fell on Catania in Sicily today, forcing authorities to close the airport overnight, airport officials said.

Italy’s civil protection agency said there was no damage.

The Fontanarossa airport, the main one in eastern Sicily, said on its website that it had closed at 5pm and would stay closed at least until 6.15am Saturday, “when the state of the volcanic phenomenon and possible reopening of the airport will be examined.”

The website did not say how many flights would be affected.

Guido Bertolaso, head of the Civil Protection Department, was in Catania and was inspecting Etna’s summit with vulcanologists, the agency said.

Spokesman Roberto Forina, who was travelling with Bertolaso, said the only damage from the ash had been the airport’s closure, and the fact that volcanic ash was falling was not alarming.

The last time volcanic ash forced the closure of the airport was 2002.

Mount Etna, Europe’s biggest and most active volcano, springs to life every few months. In 1669, a huge eruption destroyed Catania, on Sicily’s eastern coast. Etna’s last major eruption was in 1992.