New York City tourists speak out after escaping Mount Etna eruption on honeymoon

NEW YORK -- Two American tourists are speaking out after escaping the eruption of Mount Etna in Italy.

The stratovolcano, which is situated on the east coast of Sicily, first began erupting on Monday, sending thick clouds of gas and molten rock spewing into the air.

Nicholas DiLeonardi and Michelle Nigro-DiLeonardi of New York City are honeymooning in Italy and were hiking on the mountain when they said they noticed smoke nearby turn a dark shade of red. The couple said they also heard a loud boom.

"People were continuing to hike and go further up," Nigro-DiLeonardi recalled. "We saw a bunch of Jeeps going up, but it was getting pretty intense. I felt a bit nervous."

"When we were up there, I was like, 'OK, if this is another Pompeii, at least we're together,'" DiLeonardi added, referencing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., which wiped out the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and Oplontis.

Video footage of Etna's latest eruption shows fast-moving clouds of hot volcanic ash -- called a pyroclastic flow -- and lava bursting into the sky before flowing onto the mountain's surface.

Marcello Moro, a helicopter tour pilot who was at Mount Etna on Monday, described what he saw from the air.

"The activity became stronger and stronger, so I decided to get far away and to go for landing," Moro said.

Mount Etna is the tallest and most active volcano in Europe, and Monday's eruption is the fourth one since November 2022.

There have been no reported injuries or damage from Monday's eruption but officials are urging people to stay away from the crater.

Officials are monitoring the eruption closely and say right now, the eruption poses no danger to the public or to air travel, and life around the volcano has mostly returned to normal.