Dramatic pictures show Mount Etna erupting in Sicily, sending up huge plumes of ash and spewing lava into the sky.  Loud blasts from Europe’s largest and most active volcano were heard around 100 miles away last night.  The crater began to spew lava up to 100m into the air - as well as sending up a plume of dense ash an estimated 5km high.  It began at around 9:20pm, when volcanic activity was recorded in the volcano's south-east crate.  In the space of just half an hour the intensity of the blast increased from medium to high.  Ash and lava emissions continued into today at a lower intensity than last night - but still well above average levels.  Villages south of the Sicilian volcano have reported ash and loud roars were heard around 100 miles away, with smoke was seen heading southwards.  A 2.7 magnitude  earthquake was recorded on the slopes of Mount Edna before the blast, but it has not yet been confirmed whether the two are linked.  Over the past 24 hours, 17 separate quakes have been recorded.  It is likely the blast was a paroxysms explosion - meaning it builds slowly, explodes with high intensity and then quickly peters away.  Mount Etna frequently erupts due to its position on two different fault lines.  It lies at the point where the African and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, and where the African and Ionian microplate meets.  Mount Etna’s frequent activity dates back more than 2,000 years to 1,500 BCE.  Its most recent eruption was on March 16, 2017 when ten people, including a BBC news crew, were injured.  But its most severe blast, in 1169, killed an estimated 15,000 people.  An entire flank of the volcano erupted, destroying 15 villages, and in 1787 it produced one of the most spectacular explosions on record with lava being spewed an estimated 3,000m high.  Between 2002 and 2003 is threw up a series of ash columns that were visible from space which fell in Libya, 370 miles from Sicily.  The 3,329m tall volcano is widely considered the second most active volcano in the world, after Kilauea in Hawaii.

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