Italy's Mount Etna volcano erupts with a massive ash cloud and a "lava fountain"

Mount Etna, the rambunctious volcano on the Italian island of Sicily, grumbled back to life on Monday, spewing hot ash and lava in a pyroclastic flow, the nation's volcano monitoring body said. There was no immediate report of any risk to the local population, which is accustomed to Etna's frequent eruptions, or to air travel.

The volcano department, which is run by Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, noted on Monday "explosions of increasing intensity" that it said were "almost continuous."

By noon local time, INGV Vulcani said in a social media post that the "explosive activity from the Southeast Crater has become a lava fountain," and infrared images posted by the group showed the flow of lava down the mountain's face.