Lava Devours Mt. Etna Cable Car Site

Red-hot lava destroyed a cable car station and surged over man-made barriers Tuesday, drawing closer to a popular tourist complex halfway up Mt. Etna.

A flow of lava nearly 500 feet wide overran two walls of earth and rock erected to protect the complex--a hostel and a cluster of restaurants and souvenir stands--and was about 165 feet away.

Italy’s emergency crews and army bulldozers labored to reinforce the last wall still standing and doused the molten lava with a water cannon to cool it off, but hopes of stemming the flow were dimming.

“The risk has become very high. The probability of saving the area is lower and lower,” said Franco Barberi, head of the Civil Protection Agency. He said he was considering giving up the battle and moving his crews farther down the mountain.

The volcano in Sicily, Europe’s largest and most active, has been spewing lava and ash from fractures on its southern slope for about two weeks, constantly feeding a molten flow threatening the tourist facility.

Rifugio Sapienza is a popular spot, a departure point for treks or cable car rides up the mountain and for skiers. Flaming magma destroyed the parking lot and part of the ski lift last week.

The molten river had swollen to 495 feet wide by Tuesday, said Salvatore Nunnari of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. The temperature of the lava was about 1,900 degrees, according to volcanologists.

Rains of black ash have closed the airport in Catania, at the foot of the mountain, three times since the volcano began erupting.

Etna’s last major eruption was in 1992, but it rumbles into action every few months, roaring so loudly that it rattles windows in the towns at its base.