Mount Etna illuminates the sky with gigantic bursts of lava - PHOTO

These spectacular photos show the breath-taking moment lava burst into the sky as Mount Etna had its largest eruption in months. The huge explosions are captured lighting up the night sky on Sunday night before lava streams flowed down the side of the 10,810-ft-high volcano on the east coast of Sicily.The resulting ash cloud forced the closure of Catania's airport in eastern Sicily on Monday.Sec, the company that manages Catania airport, said the 'direction and intensity of the wind' caused the ash to pose a danger to flights. The closure of airspace meant that twenty-one scheduled departures had to be cancelled and 26 arrivals re-routed to other destinations. At least two flights were diverted to Palermo's airport in the western part of the Mediterranean island. While Etna is Europe's tallest most active volcano, its last major eruption occurred in 1992.But its latest series of eruptions has lasted for weeks now, occasionally causing a change in flight routes. The eruption hasn't forced evacuation of the villages on the mountain's slopes.In the past, the Italian authorities have had to use explosives, concrete dams, and ditches to divert lava flows away from towns and villages surrounding the mountain, including Catania.Covering an area of 459 square miles with a basal circumference of 140 km, Etna is by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, and is about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az