6 days ago
Dundee holidaymaker captures dramatic moment Mount Etna eruption began
A Dundee man has captured the dramatic eruption of Mount Etna, which sent a huge cloud of ash into the sky.
Tom Ingram, 69, is on holiday on the Italian island of Sicily.
So he was perfectly placed to view the beginning of the volcanic eruption on Monday.
Large plumes of grey ash and white smoke were clearly visible as it continued.
Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes and regularly erupts – most recently in February.
Tom and his wife, Gail, arrived on the Island on Friday for a holiday to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
The couple were enjoying a boat trip near Taormina, around 30 miles from Mount Etna, when Tom captured the dramatic events as they unfolded.
Tom describes the volcano eruption as 'quite spectacular'.
He said: 'At first we could see a white cloud of smoke blowing out over the horizon, which didn't look too dramatic.
'However, once the boat had made it around the headland, it was clear things had changed dramatically.'
Tom's images capture huge clouds of ash billowing up into the sky.
He told The Courier: 'It was quite spectacular to watch.
'We didn't hear any sound from the eruption as the wind was blowing from left to right as we watched, so may have carried the sound away from us.'
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (NIGV) has been closely monitoring events at Mount Etna.
It said it first noted changes to the volcano's activity at 12.39am local time (10.39pm GMT).
The full eruption took place later in the morning though.
NIGV has issued a 'code red' aviation warning advising that a significant volume of ash was likely to be dispersed into the atmosphere.
However, disruption on the ground in the immediate vicinity of Etna is thought to be minimal at present.
