【2024 Archives】

Close call024 Archives team.

A BBC television crew, and some tourists, are fortunate to only walk away with minor injuries after a volcano eruption on Mount Etna in Italy on Thursday.

Frightening footage released by the volcano-monitoring crew shows just how dramatic the encounter was.

They were reportedly near the volcano's crater, where a first eruption that "didn't seem too bad," the broadcaster's global science correspondent, Rebecca Morelle, told the BBC.

The second one threw up boiling rocks of magma, leaving people running for the safety of a nearby snowmobile, as billows of steam obstructed their vision.

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About 35 tourists were on the volcano when the explosion occurred around midday, according to authorities. The guides who accompanied them helped bring them to safety.

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"An estimated eight injuries logged by medical team here. An amazing 78-year-old lady was very close -- but safely got away," tweeted Morelle. She added that tourists and crew suffered "some head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises," but the incident "could've been worse."

Morelle was told by a volcanologist with her that it was the most dangerous incident in his 30-year career. From the safety of her hotel, Morelle showed the damage one of the boiling rocks caused to a BBC cameraman's coat.

"You can see the massive hole that's melted through -- I can actually put my face through it," she said.

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Mount Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It's been active in the past two days, spewing ash and lava into the air.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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