*Perilous Times
Mount Etna erupts for third time since March*
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 3:37pm BST 01/05/2007
# Etna awakes with storm of fire and lava
Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe, has spewed jets of
lava up to 600 feet into the sky in a new eruption.
The eruption, which began on Sunday, cracked open a new crater on the
volcano’s south-eastern side.
No one was injured, and scientists said there was no immediate danger.
There are several villages on the volcano’s other flank.
The eruption was the third since March. Etna is in an almost constant
state of activity and last December the nearby airport at Catania had to
be closed for two weeks because of ash blown into the atmosphere.
A recent survey found the volcano is more popular with American tourists
than Rome’s Colosseum, the leaning tower of Pisa or the vineyards of
Tuscany.
