A group of BBC News journalists had to run for their lives when a volcanic eruption took place while they were filming on Mount Etna.
Reports say 10 people were injured. The volcano is the largest and most active in Europe, and it’s been pretty active in recent weeks.
“Many injured — some head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises,” A BBC science reporter Rebecca Morrelle tweeted, describing the “huge explosion” that sent a camera crew and other visitors fleeing downhill for safety.
The moment of the Etna explosion – filmed by @NewsCamerawoman – she, @alisonfrancis & I VERY relieved to be safe.
https://t.co/YewpahruyW— Rebecca Morelle (@BBCMorelle) March 16, 2017
BBC journalists ran for their lives after Mount Etna erupted. Several people were injured. A tale told in tweets. https://t.co/Ld8H1oWwaU
— Patrick LaForge (@palafo) March 17, 2017
From a New York Times account of how the incident unfolded, over Twitter:
“Running down a mountain pelted by rocks, dodging burning boulders and boiling steam — not an experience I ever want to repeat,” Ms. Morrelle wrote.
An unnamed volcanologist on the mountain, she said, told her it was the “most dangerous incident experience in his 30-year career.”
Ms. Morrelle said a medical team had logged at least eight injuries, all minor, and that the BBC crew was unharmed. Emergency authorities reported other injuries later.
Back at the hotel, Ms. Morrelle shared a photograph of Rachel Price, a camera operator, brandishing a coat with a big hole burned through by “a lump of rock.”
Italian journalist Francesca Marchese spoke with BBC News here about risks that journalists and tourists face when visiting the volcanic site.
https://youtu.be/7rSSduA_r8M
Marchese explains that this explosion was not from Mt. Etna’s main crater, but rather in the flow of molten lava. Sometimes that happens when the hot liquid lava meets snow on the mountain, and sometimes it happens because it’s flaming hot firey lava and gas bubbles happen.