An eruption from a volcano on the Sicilian island of Stromboli killed a hiker and forced about 30 tourists to jump in the sea for safety, Italian media reports.
Civil protection authorities said the hiker was killed on Wednesday during the eruption, which sent molten material skywards and ignited a series of fires.
On vacation in the Aeolian islands. Booked an evening hike up the Stromboli volcano and as we got on the boat to travel there from Panarea the volcano erupted before our eyes #Stromboli pic.twitter.com/PmckD6t8aE
— . (@AlyseW) July 3, 2019
Witness Gianluca Giuffre told Italian news agency ANSA that it was "a very violent explosion followed by a shower of glowing lapilli and lava material."
Lapilli are rock fragments ejected from a volcano.
When our ferry became a rescue boat and drove to #Stromboli to save evacuees from the volcanic eruption #strombolivolcano pic.twitter.com/QVMfByJArK
— . (@AlyseW) July 3, 2019
People in the nearby town of Ginostra barricaded themselves in houses or threw themselves into the sea, Mr Giuffre said.
Italy has three main active volcanoes: Etna on Sicily, Vesuvius near Naples and Stromboli, which shares the name of the small Sicilian island. Stromboli is one of the oldest continuously active volcanoes in the world, and have been erupting for the past 2,000 years.
