Italy’s Mt. Etna erupts for seventh time in 2012

April 24, 2012 – ITALY – Mt. Etna volcano erupted for the seventh – and without doubt the most spectacular – time this year today, spewing forth molten lava hundreds of meters into the air. Residents living close by were covered in hot ash but Europe’s tallest and most active volcano didn’t seem to pose any threat to human safety. Local inhabitants of the Sicilian town of Catania were grateful that Etna at least didn’t close the local airport as it did last month, preventing a visiting Serie A football team from leaving the island. The highest active volcano in Europe has blown its top three times in the past month alone, depositing a surface of black ash on its snowy higher slopes. Standing nearly 11,000ft high, Etna regularly. Tunnels and ditches have been dug to  protect their villages from the lava flow. –Daily Mail