Mount Etna erupts as large plumes rise from volcano

Images and video from the island of Sicily showed volcanic material spilling out of the volcano on Monday morning.BBC reported.

A number of explosions of "increasing intensity" were recorded in the early hours on Monday morning, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) Etna Observatory said.

The full scale of the eruption is currently unclear and disruption appears to be minimal, with flights departing and arriving as usual at the island's airports.

Mount Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes, so eruptions are not uncommon and its outbursts rarely cause significant damage or injury.

Ground movements indicated the latest eruption happened on the south eastern edge of the volcano, according to INGV. This appears to be where a known 200m-wide vent is.

Footage shared throughout Monday shows a rapidly moving mix of ash, gas and rock - known as a pyroclastic flow - emerging from the site and moving down the side of the volcano.

Geologists monitoring the eruption said it was likely that part of volcano's crater collapsed and that this was the material being carried down its slopes.

Pyroclastic flow can be very dangerous to the surrounding area, but there has been no indication of an imminent threat.

In its most recent update, INGV noted that the volcanic material had not yet gone past the Valley of the Lion, the point on the approach to the summit where tourist trips stop.