Sicilian Village Gets Reprieve as Etna Flow Slows
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ZAFFERANA, Sicily — The flow of molten lava from Mt. Etna slowed Friday, granting a respite to the embattled Sicilian village of Zafferana and its 7,000 people.
Experts said the lava was emerging from a new fissure at an elevation of about 3,250 feet and dispersing laterally before it could threaten the village.
“We don’t know if the advance has been halted by our interventions or naturally,” chief government volcanologist Franco Barberi said. “The important thing is that it has stopped.”
Fears for Zafferana grew Thursday when a new lava flow plowed into an orchard less than 100 yards behind the forward edge of a previous stream that swallowed up two isolated houses.
A task force including U.S. Marines and Italian soldiers has been attempting to choke off the lava flow by detonating explosives and dropping concrete blocks into a tunnel of lava higher up the mountain.
Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, began erupting in December and has since spewed out more than 4 billion cubic feet of lava.
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