MOUNT ETNA in Sicily, Italy, Europe’s largest volcano, has been rocked by a “massive explosion” sending huge plumes of ash into the skies.Italian volcano erupted on Monday afternoon spewing a giant ash cloud into the sky. Mount Etna, at 3,330 metres (10,926 feet), is the highest volcano in Europe.
The volcano erupted rocketing a huge cloud into the skyline above eastern Sicily.The volcano has been rocked with seismic activity over the last few days and on Wednesday last week spewed ash and lava. Explosive activity continued at the eastern vent of the South Crater and flowed into 2 nearby craters.
Mount Etna produces around seven million tonnes of CO2, water and sulphur dioxide every year and in 2011 spewed nearly 70 million tonnes of lava.Etna is in an almost constant state of activity but has remained slightly dormant over the past two years. The volcano lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

The 700,000-year-old volcano is a huge 24 miles wide and 10,926 feet high.