A volcanic eruption grounded numerous flights at an Italian airport.
The Catania airport in Sicily is completely shut down thanks to an eruption from nearby Mt. Etna, MSN Travel reported.
Catania airport and the nearby smaller airport, Comiso, also closed down as a result of pitch black ash billowing into the sky.
The airports are expected to remain closed until Monday evening, the Associated Press reported. About five flights were cancelled, and two or more were diverted to Palermo or other not-too-far-away airports.
Mount Etna erupts relatively frequently, but this recent event (which started Saturday) is the most violent that has been seen in months, MSN reported.
The Catania airport was also forced to shut down in late October due to a Mt. Edna eruption. The volcano shot soot so high into the sky it could be seen through most of Eastern Sicily, the Associated Press reported.
In the October eruption the airport was closed for only a few hours before resuming flights.
The volcano also had a dramatic eruption in January of 2011.
"This eruption is very similar to more than 200 episodes of lava fountaining at the summit craters of Mount Etna - including 66 from the Southeast Crater in the year 2000," Boris Behncke, a volcanologist and expert on Mount Etna, said of the 2011 eruption, LiveScience reported. "The same vent that erupted last night already produced nearly identical - though longer-lasting - episodes in September and November 2007 and most recently on May 10, 2008."
Edna has been a famous fixture in ancient Greek history. They believed it was home to Vulcan, the feared god of fire. When the mountain erupted the Greeks believed it was Vulcan creating weapons of war for the god, Mars.
Mount Etna is considered to be the largest volcano in Europe. It is almost constantly active and rarely goes a full year without showing activity, LiveScience reported
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