Etna keeps up its spectacular explosions; ash rains on towns

ROME (AP) — Italy’s Mount Etna volano is keeping up its spectacular explosions. The volcano in eastern Sicily spewed out towering clouds of ash and lava stones overnight. Italy’s national geophysics and volcanology institute said the latest big explosion occurred hours before dawn on Sunday, with the volcano exhibiting increasing tremors throughout the night. Ash and small lava stones rained down on eight villages on Etna’s slopes Sunday morning, while lava flowed from the southeast crater slowly down an uninhabited side, as it has been doing since the volcano rumbled back to life on Feb. 16. The column of ash and lava reached 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) high on Sunday.