Dread River of Lava

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 509, 12 November 1928, Page 9

Dread River of Lava

ETNAS DESTRUCTIVE ANGER

Bridges Downed as by Giant

(Australian and N.Z. Press Association)

Received 10.7 a.m. ROME, Sunday. riERE is no sign of a cessation of the Etna eruption, which already is described as the worst since the seventeenth century. As the lava streams are all moving seaward, it is hoped that this will circumscribe the damage. An area of 18 square miles has been completely devastated. The molten stream is slowly swallowing up every tree and building en route.

It was an extraordinary spectacle to see the stream, jetting small flames and bubbling like red-hot steel, tackle a three-arched bridge on the sea coast railway. The arches burst and toppled over singly, as though they were toys kicked over by a giant. The streams ultimately penetrated the largest and most solid wine-cel-lars, the heat bursting the casks. Troops worked marvels widening the roads and reducing the congestion of fleeing refugees. The lava caused intense heat, even at Messina, Catania and Taormina, where people are sleeping in the open

air. The whole neighbourhood is impregnated with an odour of petroleum. The Prime Minister, Signor Musaolini, has forbidden Etna relief subscriptions on the ground that it is degrading. The Government is undertaking relief measures. In the first 72 hours of the eruption the lava stream covered nine miles. I( is now advancing at the rate of 300 ft. a day over the flatter land in tilt) vicinity of the sea. The Government has started a boat service, which takes five hours be tween Messina and Catania, as th 4 railway line has been cuU