Sicily

Portrait for @ash
by @ash
2021-02-18T02:00:01+00:00
Climate & Environment
Italy's Mount Etna erupts, spews smoke & ashes and forces Catania airport to close
Mount Etna eruption as viewed from Naval Air Station Sigonella.
Mount Etna eruption as viewed from Naval Air Station Sigonella. Credit: Official U.S. Navy Page (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

Mount Etna erupted for the second time this month Tuesday evening. Etna is one of the most active stratovolcano, located on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania. Due to ash in the air, the Catania international airport was closed.

Stefano Branco, the head of the INGV National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, said that they had "seen worse" and that the activity was "not at all worrying."

Portrait for @tom
by @tom
2021-01-26T10:00:02+00:00
Regional News • Europe • European Union
Refugee rescue ship Ocean Viking is allowed to bring 370 refugees to Sicily
Refugee rescue ship Ocean Viking is allowed to bring 370 refugees to Sicily
Credit: Von Daniel Leite Lacerda - http://volfegan.deviantart.com/art/Ocean-Viking-anchored-245729067, CC BY-SA 3.0,

The rescue ship "Ocean Viking" is allowed to bring more than 370 boat migrants rescued from distress at sea to Augusta in Sicily. This was announced by the operator organization SOS Mediterranee on Sunday evening. Italy had assigned the crew the port near Syracuse. A heavily pregnant woman had reportedly been flown to the island of Lampedusa earlier by Italian authorities.

After that, there were still 373 people on board who had been rescued by four inflatable boats off Libya in recent days, he said. The crew had appealed to Malta and Italy to take them in. The arrival is expected for Monday.