Etna trembles quietly

Press, 27 December 1985, Page 6

Etna trembles quietly

NZPA-Reuter Catania, Sicily Minor tremors continued yesterday and molten lava was still flowing down the sides of Mount Etna after a volcano eruption and earthquake that flattened a hotel, killing one man. Scientists said that five more tremors measuring up to five points on the 12-point Mercalli scale followed the first earthquakes, which started at 3.30 p.m. (N.Z. time) on Wednesday. It was the volcano’s first big eruption since 1983, when over 129 days lava

destroyed a ski-lift, houses, restaurants, a police station, and religious settlements. Rescue workers yesterday sorted through the wreckage of the one-storey Le Betulle Hotel, flattened by the ’quake, which measured six points on the Mercalli scale. Five Sicilian families were celebrating Christmas at the hotel, on the slopes of Mount Etna, when the tremors began. Most of the staff and guests fled the building, but Carmelo de Stefano, aged 34, went back inside to help

his wife and son escape, then was killed when the hotel’s roof collapsed. Fourteen people were injured and two remained in hospital yesterday in a serious condition. A volcanologist, Emanuele lo Giudice, from Catania’s International Volcano Institute, said that the epicentre of the biggest tremor had been directly under the hotel at a depth of only 1000-2000 metres. Geologists said that the molten lava, streaming from a rock fissure 2700 metres above sea-level, had split into four branches.