Mt. Etna Spews Gas, Rocks; 2 Tourists Die

Gas and hot rocks spewed today from Mt. Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, killing the wife and 9-year-old son of a French diplomat and injuring other tourists, officials said.

Col. Silvano Brunchini of the Civil Defense Ministry in Rome identified the dead as Danielle Prevot, 41, and her son, Pierre Henri.

He said the diplomat, Marc Prevot, 42, who was recently posted to Rome as a military engineer, was hospitalized along with two other sons, Ugo, 12, and Alex, 15.

Brunchini said several other people in the group of French and Italian tourists, who were on the southeast slope near the summit, suffered minor injuries.

Officials said about 25 people were on a guided tour of the volcano when the gas and hot volcanic rocks shot from a crater.

Renato Cristofolini, a volcanologist in Catania who monitors Etna’s activity, said there had been other explosions in the same area in recent weeks. “Tourists are warned not to go near the craters,” he said.

The explosion occurred 9,900 feet above the ground on the southeastern slope of the volcano, officials said. The area is nearly at the summit of Mt. Etna.

In 1979, nine tourists were killed in a similar accident. They had made an excursion to the rim of the volcano, when ash, gas and hot rocks spewed out and showered the group.