MOUNT ETNA, Sicily -- The authorities in eastern Sicily have been forced to close the main airport as emergency crews battle to halt lava flows from Mount Etna.
It was the second time in as many weeks that flights into and out of Fontanarossa airport have had to be cancelled or diverted because thick flakes of gray ash covering the airstrip made flying too dangerous. The move, on Saturday, came as emergency workers continued a round-the-clock battle to prevent Etna's lava flow reaching mountainside tourist facilities.
Officials said the lava was slowing but still threatening a clutch of souvenir shops and a cable car base.
Two new fractures opened on Friday night which vulcanologists said may ease the pressure forcing the lava towards the Sapienza base and a village further down the volcano.
Workers are attempting to build 10-foot high walls to prevent the lava, which has swept across a tourist car park area, from engulfing Sapienza.
Giovanni Serafina, the owner of a bar 100 yards from the lava, told the Associated Press news agency: "It is a terrible moment for those of us who are up here. Even our grandfathers can't even remember it being like this."
The archbishop of Catania said he would pray on Sunday to ask that the eruption stop. Police have banned tourists from going up the mountain.
Nello Musumeci, a government commissioner, said: "We are fighting an enemy which is much stronger than man."
About 10 army bulldozers were sent up the mountain on Thursday to help exhausted crews of workers build earthworks around Rifugio Sapienza.
On Wednesday the lava cut across the path of three central pylons of Mount Etna's ski lift, which is 1.5 miles long, as it made its way down the mountain.
A wall of lava then began building up above the base station, and civil protection officials asked the army to send in heavy equipment.
Sonia Calvari, volcanologist with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, Sicily, told CNN: "We know now that the volcano is still inflating. We see lava flow in many parts of the eruptive fissure.
"It's, of course, a very important eruption. The most important I've seen in 15 years."
Experts say the eruption could go on for weeks.
The only town threatened by lava is Nicolosi, home to 6,000 people, but the lava is still about two-and-a-half miles away and officials say that particular flow has slowed to a virtual standstill.
Nicolosi Mayor Salvatore Mischetto said the news was still bad. At least 300 residents of Nicolosi work on the mountain, many on the ski lift and at Rifugio Sapienza, and their jobs are now in jeopardy, he said.
Rivers of lava have flowed down the sides of the volcano, threatening nearby villages.
Thousands of gallons of water have been dropped by air to try to cool the advancing flow.
The eruption has caused $3.1 million in damage, including losses in tourism and agriculture, the local government said.
The last major eruption of Mount Etna, which towers 10,860 feet (3,310 metres) above Sicily, was in 1992. In a spectacular operation, Italian and U.S. military used controlled explosions to divert the flow.
A state of emergency remains in effect in the region, with dozens of families on standby to leave the village of Nicolosi. |
