Mount Etna, active volcano in quake-stricken Italian island of Sicily erupted on 24th December 2018.

Mount Etna, the active volcano in quake-stricken Italian island of Sicily, has recently erupted on 24th December 2018. A chain of around 130 earthquakes have rocked the volcano with the strongest posting a magnitude of 4.0. The quake was the strongest in the region after Mount Etna erupted, spewing ash and forcing the temporary closure of Sicilian airspace. Despite the closure of a part of the highway running along the coast, the airport at the eastern city of Catania, the capital of the province, was open. Mount Etna, which is Europe’s highest and most active volcano, is 3,300m high with frequent eruptions recorded in the past 2,700 years. Its most recent eruptions occurred in the spring of 2017 and its last major eruption in the 2008/2009 winter.