By Bhvishya Patel For Mailonline

Published: 12:00 EDT, 21 February 2022 | Updated: 12:33 EDT, 21 February 2022

Mount Etna sent plumes of smoke and ash shooting into the air over eastern Sicily after roaring back into action today. 

Images showed the sky above Catania engulfed in thick smoke after Etna, one of Europe's most active volcano, sent a 7.5-mile high volcanic ash cloud over the city. 

The lava flow from the volcano was centred around the crater on the mountain's south-east slope, said officials in Italy.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage on the inhabited towns on the slopes of the volcano, which is popular with hikers, skiers and other tourists.

Mount Etna sent plumes of smoke and ash shooting into the air over Catania, in eastern Sicily today

Etna, one of Europe's most active volcano, sent a 7.5-mile high volcanic ash cloud over the city after roaring back into action 

The towering cloud, which was visible for miles, came as Vincenzo Bellini international airport in Catania was forced to close

Today, the nearby Vincenzo Bellini international airport in Catania closed at lunchtime until further notice, with inbound flights diverted to Palermo.

It came as roads, balconies and rooftops were left covered in ash.

By Monday afternoon, the lava flow from the crater had stopped, officials said.

But earlier in the day, while the volcanic cloud was pouring out of Etna, they issued a warning for aircraft in the area.

The towering cloud, visible for miles, is the latest impressive show of Etna's power this month.

Earlier in February, a particularly powerful eruption sent bolts of lightning dramatically across the sky over eastern Sicily.

In 1669, in what has been considered the volcano's worst-known eruption, lava buried a swathe of Catania, the largest city in the east on the island of Sicily, and devastated dozens of villages.

More recently, in 1983, dynamite was used to divert lava threatening towns. 

In 1992, the army built an earthen wall to contain the lava, flowing from Etna for months, so it would not reach one of the villages on the slopes. 

The sky above Catania was engulfed in thick smoke after Etna, which stands at 11,013ft, erupted today

The lava flow from the crater stopped by the afternoon but earlier in the day, while the volcanic cloud was pouring out of Etna, officials issued a warning for aircraft in the area

Etna is Europe's most active volcano, producing enough lava every year to fill a 108-story skyscraper

In August last year, Italy's volcano monitoring agency said Mount Etna had grown in height to a record 11,013ft.

Experts said the southeast and youngest crater of Europe's most active volcano was now much higher than its 'older brother', the northeast crater, which was the 'undisputed peak of Etna' for 40 years.

It came after some 50 episodes of ash and lava belched from the mouth of the crater from mid-February last year, the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said.

The northeastern crater of Etna reached a record height of 10,990ft in 1981, but a collapse at its edges reduced that to 10,912ft, recorded in 2018.

Satellite suggest the southeast crater has now surpassed that and stands at 11,013ft.

Etna is Europe's most active volcano, producing enough lava every year to fill a 108-story skyscraper. 

Although it poses little danger to surrounding villages, Sicily's government estimated last July that 300,000 metric tones of ash had so far been collected as part of the clean-up operation.

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