ETNA’S ERUPTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1923, Page 5

ETNA’S ERUPTION

— PATH OF DESTRUCTION. THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) ‘ ROME , June 18; - The eruption of Mt. Etna continues. It is accompanied by such massed noises that it is being likened to the discharge of a thousand massed guns. The inhabitants of Messina City, although forty miles distant, quitted their homes, and have removed their effects to the seashore. A shower of cinders added to their panic. Eventually, however, they returned to their homes. Later messages state that Lingualosa is almost surrounded by lava. Several houses have collapsed there. The lava stream varies from thirty to forty-five feet in height. The largest eruptive crater is at a point called Monte Nero, whence the biggest lava stream immediately issued. It covered a distance of five miles down the valley in a period under eight hours. This is a record for a lava current. The authorities are organising relief for the refugees. There are scenes of panic everywhere in Sicily. The women and children are weeping on their knees, appealing to God and the Virgin Mary. There is a hail of red hot stones, which has set fire to the vineyards in various

directions. This is adding to the horror. As the disaster has occurred in the harvest time, the peasants will Ipse their all. After a big explosion this morning, hot ' cinders were ejected in clouds. An ■ asphyxiating atmosphere enveloped the district for more than ten miles around ; Lingualosa. A large stretch of railway j has been destroyed by the burning lava. Cantania and Messina are already over congested with, fugitives. Shelter is not available for thousands, who are coming from all directions. Numerous villages and hamlets have been destroyed, the inhabi- ' hints having barely time to escape in what clothes they had on. ■ A TERRIBLE SPECTACLE. LONDON, June 19. Rome messages state that soldiers are engaged in digging trenches in the hope of stopping the lava stream from Mt. Etna into Sicily. Four new fissures have appeared in the north-east side of the mountain. One has formed a crater, from which lava is now pouring down and is still erupting, though with diminishing force. The rate of the lava advance has been reduced to twenty metres per hour. The / stream of lava is divided into several branches. The lava and dust have reached Taurima, where the ground is covered with a fine black powder. Red hot cinders are strewn over the ground for miles. A stream of lava has" arrived at a point only one kilometre from Ccrro, and it is feared that it will reach Linguarosa during the night. The spectacle of the eruption is terrible. The menacing roarings follow each other frequently, and the rain of

cinders is ,becoming more intense.. The flight of the peasants continues, amid scenes of terror. The damage to the vineyards and cultivated lands is already estimated to amount to several millions lire. 30,000 HOMELESS. ROME, June 18. It is officially estimatedjhat the number of homeless in-the Mt. Etna area is 30,000. Castiglione is under a dire threat. Its seventeen thousand inhabitants are assembled and ready to flee at a warning from the outposts. ROME, June 19. After a brief period of inaction from eruption, Etna resumed last night, and to-day several new craters have been formed, one being three kilometers in diameter. A vast molten wall of lava, two kilometers wide and fifty feet high, is moving towards G Jarre, a town of 25,000 people, who are ready to leave for Ripostro. The village of Cazaica has already been destroyed, and there is no longer any hope that Linguaglossa can escape. It is now completely evacuated, and lava is encroaching from all sides. Thousands of people are homeless, but extensive, relief is being organised. The King is going to Sicily.