About 1,000 day-trippers have flocked
to watch the 3,300 metre-high Mount Etna, Europe's highest and
most active volcano, erupt with smoke streaming from its summit
and lava spilling over snow from the new "Bocca Nuova" crater,
blocking streets and preventing rescue services from reaching
the area if necessary, regional civil protection chief Salvo
Cocina warned on Monday.
The hundreds of people who have reached the area to watch the
exceptional view have "parked their cars along the narrow
streets and blocked circulation" in the area of Vetore, "making
the passage of rescue vehicles impossible", Cocina wrote on
social media, stressing that he has alerted the prefect and
police forces about the situation of risk.
The regional civil protection on Sunday activated four units,
from the areas of Belpasso, Ragalna, Nicolosi and Adrano, to
assist the population and stop tourists and day-trippers from
Sicily and beyond from driving through the area's overcrowded
streets - a situation similar to the one recorded at the popular
skiing destination of Roccaraso but with higher dangers, local
officials said.
Last month, viral influencer posts about Roccaraso, a ski
destination in central Italy, led 10,000 day-trippers to invade
the resort, causing chaos on the slopes, traffic jams and
allegations of bad behavior.
After viral posts of snowfall at the location, tour companies in
the city of Naples and in the Campania region began to organize
cheap tour buses for residents to spend a day in the mountains,
prompting local authorities to enforce crowd-control measures.
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