What am I looking at? Are these people running for their life? Are they running fast enough?Tourists and guides run for their lives when Mount Etna suddenly erupts pic.twitter.com/HKhTiUCuUe
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) June 3, 2025
In recent years, authorities have struggled to control imprudent visitors who failed to appreciate the risks of getting a close look at the island’s most prominent landmark. Mount Etna, a stratovolcano, or a conical volcano with relatively steep sides, shows almost continuous activity from its main craters and relatively frequent lava flows from craters and fissures along its sides..... Hannah and Charlie Camper, a couple from England, were... aware of previous eruptions but thought they would be “completely fine,” since “it’s active all the time”....
Apparently, all the tourists were completely fine yesterday.
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A quick search of Etna summit tours tells the story. Lots of elderly and couch champions in packs and helmets. An easy one for summit collectors. Is it governments responsibility to prohibit such adventures? Maybe require evacuation and body recovery insurance the was the Swiss pay for wing suiters and base jumpers.
The Volcano was angry that day, my friend, like an old Jew sending soup back at the Deli.
They are running on a steep slope composed of loose volcanic ash. Very hard to run fast without falling.
It good their "running field" is relatviely smooth. Don't know if that's typical of Volancos. The volano field in Hawaii on "The big island" was full of big jagged rocks. It was impossible to go more than 1 MPH.
People who don't heed posted warnings should not be waiting around to hear emergency warnings from authorities. If a traveler decides to take the risk, then they own it.
They aren't sprinting but they going at least 3-5 MPH
Great video. But I'm trying to figure who is operating the camera. Too high an angle for go-pro. Too close at times for a drone.
That's from a video game, ¿no?
You're seeing, Ann, exactly what you think you are seeing: Darwin working his magic attempting to remove these defective genes from our pool.
My body's burnin' like a lava from Mauna Loa
My heart's crackin' like a Krakatoa
Krakatoa, east of Java, molten bodies, fiery lava
Mt. Etna, see what that’ll getcha
Turn on yo’ love, mama
Let loose yo’ fiery lava
The reasoning — "it’s active all the time" so it's safe — is bizarre. It's like saying that dog that growls and snarls all the time is not going to bite. The signs were there, but the bad thing hasn't happened yet. You had so much warning, but that's precisely why you did nothing.
Why are they wearing helmets, are they expecting to be hit by tephra? If you are preparing to be hit by volcanic ejecta you should probably not go. And large magma fragments can literally fly for a mile, ash can go for a thousand miles.
The "safetyism" culture in the public spaces of Sicily is on a far different point on the spectrum than, say, California.
Adventures are....more adventurous.
Can’t say anything since I was at a rim of an active volcano two months ago and disappointed it wasn’t erupting. Missed it by a week either way. Then again, the risk was quite calculated, and people present at eruptions were in no immediate danger.
I will say the volcano I went to isn’t known for pyroclastic clouds. That’s crazy.
Who's the idiot running backward while filming the tourists?
If this volcano is always active, maybe the tour guide is always ready to shoot a viral video.
It what really kills you is a pyroclastic flow, heavy ash and gas rolling down the cone that smothers you while burning you alive.
I'm a mean person. I have no sympathy for someone hiking on a non-extinct volcano who discovers they are in peril. Don't hike Etna. Don't hike Popocatapetl. Don't hike Kilauea.
But I'm trying to figure who is operating the camera. Too high an angle for go-pro. Too close at times for a drone.
Probably a camera on a hand-held pole. You can swing the view around just by rotating the pole. Also could be a 360-degree camera, those take video in all directions and you then edit it down to the perspectives you choose.
Just think of it as natures way of thinning the herd. The herd won this time but it won't always be so. Nature is patient.
When you're tracking volcanic activity, there are ways to refine the probability of events. Etna is Europe's most active volcano, but that doesn't mean its activity is radical. Yesterday's eruption does not compare to something like, say, Mt. St. Helens, which was also predicted. There, the probabilities mandated evacuation of the region. At Etna, the probabilities dictate the summit be closed for tourism. The biggest injury produced was a little sweat.
So some of this is Climate of Fear stuff. Quick, everybody panic! I'm seeing the same crap on the internet weather, dire warnings being issued because today it'll be hot. There could be a thunderstorm later, so let's get everybody's phone chirping with Flash Flood Alerts ! Dire Emergency, everybody panic !
As someone who has hiked the side of Etna within the past few years, here's how we viewed the risk: Yes, it is an always-active volcano, but EVERY DAY for years and years dozens of groups go up there with no deaths. The odds of survival are pretty dang good. Even this group emerged unhurt.
Apparently, all the tourists were completely fine yesterday.
In some ways that’s unfortunate.
A note for baghdadbob — EVERY DAY the farmer feeds his turkeys abundantly and gives them lots of room to roam around their pen. That all changes on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
"Are they running fast enough?"
You know the old joke about a bear chasing two people. One puts on running shoes...."I only have to outrun you".
Doesn't work on volcanoes. They were lucky.
Is this an insurance company commercial? Obscure old reference. here.
Removed from bucket list.
@Peachy: lol
Google: “The average age of a tourist varies greatly depending on the specific context, but generally, older adults are more likely to travel than younger people, and there are diverse travel demographics within the senior population.”
I wonder if the people of Pompeii thought like that?
Your odds of dying on Mt Entna on one tourist trip, are probably equal to those of you dying in a car crash.
Either there were no tourists at all on the side the hot gasses and ash rolled down or we don't yet know how many died.
"Are they running fast enough?"
If there had been a pyroclastic flow heading in their direction, they would have already been dead, but that's not the sort of volcano Mt Etna is. If it's "always active" that means the pressure is being released and not building up. If the pressure doesn't have a "relief value" as here, it builds and builds and then you get a Mt St. Helens.
Yes, frequentist probability says you will likely survive. But there was a book about black swan events. An investor who converted stock to gold in 1928 would be considered smart in hindsight. Some would say he was loosing the chance for more gains.
Buddhists and islamisists have it easy, if fate or Allah want you, you are just screwed no matter where you go.
Yes, lava flows and Strombolian eruptions are more common at Aetna, but pyroclastic flows reaching Valle del Leone and Valle del Bove have occurred 4 times since 2000.
I don’t care if people visit the craters at all, and I don’t care if people drive thru railroad grade crossings with red lights, I like volcanoes.
If that Ash hits you - you will die. It's very hot, right?
Making memories! At least stop and get in a selfie or two.
"Hannah and Charlie Camper"
I wonder if Charlie's middle name starts with an S. Probably not.
White Island volcano in New Zealand is another stratovolcano and it had a pyroclastic eruption in 2019, resulting in eight fatalities among the tourists unwise enough to think it cool to try their luck. To each his own.
Not a very adventurous group here. Old age will do that to you.
We hiked Mt Vesuvius last summer. My recollection is that both it and Etna are constantly monitored, with daily readings of the risk of any eruption. The article mentioned that the summit was closed to tourists, so presumably they had some inkling of the risk of an imminent eruption, and took reasonable precautions. Which is not to say that it was completely risk-free. Nothing is.
Ann asked, "What am I looking at? Are these people running for their life?"
Running downhill is very different from running uphill or on a horizontal surface. Downhill requires the runner to be constantly "braking" -- using the muscles on the front of the leg to limit how much and how fast the knee flexes.
I very much appreciate @josephbleau's accurate comments on volcanoes. True story from one of my geology classes: the professor was discussing the various types of volcanoes and shows a picture of a stratovolcano with an enormous erupted ash cloud. His deadpan comment: "If you see something like this . . . get out quickly."
Etnam.
Looks like Republicans running away from the BBB.
Looks like normals running away from MSNBC
Everything is fine, until it’s not.
Rabel said...
"Not a very adventurous group here. Old age will do that to you."
Yeah. I've done my share of rock climbing, white water canoeing and wilderness camping.
I'll say it again. As soon as you leave your nice snug domicile you're prey. But, you know, go out there and get your selfies with a bear, or a buffalo or a volcano.
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