Mt. Etna, an active stratovolcano, looms over Sicily, Italy, and recently, it's begun to erupt, producing red-hot lava.
The display of seismic activity has drawn numerous visitors, including Marco Bassot, a snowboarder.
Several days ago, Bassot began sharing footage of climbing and riding the erupting volcano. The snowboarder in the videos cruised down patches of snow while, in the background, a river of lava bubbled.
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"This fracture started some days ago and created a huge, intense and impressive lava flow for more than 1.000 m, you can really feel the heat," Bassot wrote in a social media post. "I've seen many things in my 40 years of life but riding side by side of a flowing river of lava was one of the most special, impressive and breathtaking experiences I've ever lived."
Mt. Etna is Europe's largest and most active volcano. Its regular activity includes eruptions, ash emissions, and as evidenced by Bassot's videos, lava flows.
A new eruption began on February 6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). February 12 saw strong explosive activity that launched ash and lava into the air.
While beautiful, Mt. Etna's eruption prompted concern amongst some local authorities as an influx of visitors arrived, The Guardian reports.
Salvo Cocina, Sicily's head of regional civil protection, called the tourist inundation "extremely dangerous," noting that groups of onlookers had begun crowding narrow streets with their parked cars as they clamored for a glimpse of the active Mt. Etna. Those parked cars, according to Cocina, were obstructing rescue vehicles.
"As darkness falls, the situation becomes extremely dangerous, with rising risks of falls and people sinking into the snow," he noted.
Carlo Caputo, the mayor of a town near Mt. Etna, described watching videos of people standing near the lava flow, and in a possible reference to Bassot's or others' videos, skiing on the volcano.
He warned that when the lava meets the snow, it can fling rocks due to the release of thermal energy. Caputo ordered tourists and visitors to remain at least 500 meters away from the lava.
"Though visually striking, it exposes them to serious risks," he said.
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