Thursday July 26 9:40 AM ET

Etna Roars Back in Fury, Ski Station Destroyed

By Mario Laporta

NICOLOSI, Sicily (Reuters) - Mount Etna, which had given scientists a respite for two days, roared back in fury on Thursday as new explosions and fast-moving lava ate up ski-lift pylons and destroyed a lift station.

But the new lava flow did not pose any greater threat to the nearest town, Nicolosi.

``The new situation is worrying for the Sapienza refuge (a high-altitude building used to escape bad weather or snow),'' a civil protection official on the scene said.

Europe's highest and most active volcano, which has been putting on a spectacular show for weeks, spewed out a new flow of lava at an altitude of about 8,580 feet early on Thursday morning.

Lava was flowing down the mountain at a relatively fast speed of about 330 feet an hour as bulldozers moved earth and hardened lava from earlier eruptions to erect barriers to channel the new lava toward a natural bowl.

The lava reached the top end of a ski-lift station, setting it on fire and engulfing several pylons.

More worrying was the fact that the lava was only several hundred meters away from the Sapienza refuge, a popular tourist stop and the site of a scientific monitoring station.

Officials said there was a possibility it might have to be evacuated if the lava could not be channeled away from the refuge.

The new lava flow was about several hundred meters away from the road connecting Nicolosi and the Sapienza refuge.

``It is a difficult situation, a new emergency situation,'' Nicolosi mayor Salvatore Moschetto told reporters.

Etna had offered civil protection workers a respite after two fissures at high altitudes had closed and there was reduced volcanic activity on the southeast slopes for two days.

Catania airport was closed for two days earlier this week because of fine black ash that had showered the runways.

Europe's most active volcano has been billowing clouds of smoke and black ash for weeks. There have been more than 2,500 minor earthquakes deep under the mountain.

The last time Etna posed a serious threat to villages on its slopes was in 1992, when lava streams headed toward Zafferana, a town of 7,000 people.

In a spectacular operation, Italian and U.S. military used controlled explosions to divert the flow.

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