A group of Trinity College graduates experienced a frightening eruption of Mount Etna while on a tour to celebrate their graduation. Alex Stoian, a recent chemistry graduate, recounted how they felt things went wrong after departing their tour bus. Despite the tour guide's initial remarks about the volcano being more active, the students were shocked by the sudden explosion of a gas bubble and subsequent cliff collapse, which created a massive cloud of dust and gas. Fortunately, there were no injuries reported among the approximately 100 tourists present during the eruption.
Mount Etna is among the world's most active volcanoes and eruptions are common, but Mr Stoian said the group received no prior warning that it was a possibility.
'The more you think about it you kind of get into that fight or flight kind of blur,' he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
'Once we got back down to the safe 2,000-metre point, one of the tour guides even said it to us, 'There's too many people up there.''
'But once we got up there - and in hindsight, it was explained to us - that a gas bubble exploded, and part of the cliff collapsed.'
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