Mount Etna Erupts Again, Sending Vast Plume of Ash Over Sicily [VIDEO]

First Posted: Oct 28, 2013 08:04 AM EDT

Europe's most active and tallest volcano 'Mount Etna' erupted on Saturday, emitting a huge plume of ash and putting up a brilliant show with its bright lava.

According to BBC, the eruption of Mount Etna spewed lava and vast plume of ash into the air that were seen from eastern Sicily. Local airport and airspace were briefly closed due to the smoke. However, none of the villages on the slopes of the notorious mountain were forced to evacuate following the eruption.

Luckily, no major fatalities or injuries were caused. The airports were opened before dawn. The last major eruption of Mount Etna took place in 1992.

Considered to be one of the biggest by the geology experts, the latest eruption that occurred early Saturday morning was a part of a series of outbursts that began in 2007. This outburst was preceded by a series of underground tremors that occurred on Friday, reports DailyMail.

This isn't the only time Etna has erupted. In 1669, a series of eruptions over few weeks took the lives of more than 20,000 people and left thousands stranded on streets, reports History.com.

Standing 11,000 feet above the sea level, Mount Etna has been spewing ash and lava for thousands of years. The eruptions make the soil very fertile, that's the reason why several villages were developed on the slopes.

"This eruption is very similar to more than 200 episodes of lava fountaining at the summit craters of Mount Etna - including 66 from the Southeast Crater in the year 2000," Boris Behncke, a volcanologist and expert on Mount Etna, said of the 2011 eruption, LiveScience reported. "The same vent that erupted last night already produced nearly identical - though longer-lasting - episodes in September and November 2007 and most recently on May 10, 2008."

The NASA crew in space didn't miss the chance seeing Mount Etna erupt again. The Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, who is currently aboard the ISS, watched the air show from space and tweeted pictures of the eruption.