Sicily's Mount Etna erupts in a fiery show of smoke and ash miles high
Milan (Italy), Jun 3 (AP): Sicily's Mount Etna put on a fiery show Monday, sending a cloud of smoke and ash several kilometres (miles) into the air, but officials said the activity posed no danger to the population.
The level of alert due to the volcanic activity was raised at the Catania airport, but no immediate interruptions were reported. An official update declared the ash cloud emission had ended by the afternoon.
Italy's INGV National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the spectacle on Europe's most active volcano was caused when part of the southeast crater collapsed, resulting in hot lava flows. It was the 14th eruptive phase in recent months.
The area of danger was confined to the summit of Etna, which was closed to tourists as a precaution, according to Stefano Branca, an INGV official in Catania.
Sicily's president, Renato Schifani, said lava flows emitted in the eruption had not passed the natural containment area "and posed no danger to the population."
The event was captured in video and photos that went viral on social media. Tremors from the eruption were widely felt in the towns and villages on Mount Etna's flanks, Italian media reported.
Video showed tourists running along a path on the flank of the vast volcano with smoke billowing some distance in the background. Excursions are popular on Etna, which is some 3,300 metres (nearly 11,000 feet) high, with a surface area of some 1,200 square kilometres (about 460 square miles).
Tourists and guides run for their lives when Mount Etna suddenly erupts pic.twitter.com/HKhTiUCuUe
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Karnataka bypolls: Over 60 per cent voter turnout in Bagalkot, Davanagere South till 5 pm
Bengaluru (PTI): Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm in both Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, where bypolls were held on Thursday.
While the turnout in Bagalkot was 65.68 per cent, it was 63.04 per cent in Davanagere South.
While the ruling Congress faces the challenge of retaining both seats, the BJP aims to wrest them and deliver a setback to its rival, which is currently witnessing an "internal power struggle" over leadership.
The bypolls were necessitated due to the demise of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti (Bagalkot) and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Davanagere South).
A total of over 2.59 lakh eligible voters are expected to cast their votes at around 319 polling stations in Bagalkot, where nine candidates are in the fray.
In Davanagere South, over 2.31 lakh eligible voters are expected to vote across 284 polling stations, with 25 candidates contesting.
The BJP has fielded former MLA and 2023 defeated candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot, and a fresh face, Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, from Davanagere South.
The Congress has given tickets to family members of the late legislators in both constituencies. Bagalkot candidate Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, while Samarth Mallikarjun from Davanagere South is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
