Attempt to ‘Plug’ Etna Volcano Suffers Setback
Stiff winds Monday thwarted an attempt by helicopter-borne crews to “plug” an underground river of lava feeding a flow of molten rock down Europe’s most active volcano.
But further down Mt. Etna, a lava front moving toward the town of Zafferana appeared to be slowing down, and the immediate threat to houses on the volcano’s slopes receded.
A helicopter carrying U.S. Marines and Italian sailors and buffeted by high winds was forced to jettison a 5,000-pound steel platform on the mountainside. The platform was to have been placed near an opening to a tunnel at 7,800 feet, where lava has been accumulating.
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