Flights serving the eastern Sicilian city of Catania were halted on Sunday after an eruption from nearby Mount Etna spewed volcanic ash onto its runways, airport authorities said. The 3,330 meters (10,925 ft) high volcano can burst into spectacular action several times a year, firing lava and ash high over …
Read More »Italy police find 2 tonnes of cocaine valued at $440 mln floating in Sicily sea
Almost 2 tonnes of cocaine with a market value of more than 400 million euros ($440 million) were found floating at sea off eastern Sicily, Italy’s tax and customs police said on Monday. The Guardia di Finanza called it a “record” seizure. The drugs were stored in about 70 waterproof …
Read More »Stromboli volcano eruption triggers tsunami (Videos)
The Italian authorities have reported 4.6-magnitude earthquakes near the Aeolian Islands Earthquakes and tsunami waves have been registered in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Sicily after a volcano violently erupted on the Italian island of Stromboli on Sunday. According to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), …
Read More »Gas explosion in Sicily leaves at least three dead, six missing
Three people were killed and six are still missing after a gas explosion late on Saturday caused several residential buildings in the Sicilian town of Ravanusa to collapse, Italian authorities said on Sunday. Two apartment blocks in the town of 11,000 people were completely destroyed and several other buildings had …
Read More »Migrant boat with 10 dead bodies arrives in Sicily
A boat carrying the bodies of 10 migrants found dead at sea arrived in Sicily on Friday, along with dozens of people it rescued this week as they tried to cross the Mediterranean. The crew of the Geo Barents vessel, run by charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), found the corpses …
Read More »Migrant boat with 10 dead bodies arrives in Sicily
A boat carrying the bodies of 10 migrants found dead at sea arrived in Sicily on Friday, along with dozens of people it rescued this week as they tried to cross the Mediterranean. The crew of the Geo Barents vessel, run by charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), found the corpses …
Read More »Italy arrests two Sicilian sheep farmers for lighting wildfires
Italian police arrested two farmers in Sicily on Saturday on suspicion of lighting recent wildfires to create grazing land for their sheep and said the two had been planning another large and dangerous blaze. Wildfires have torn through swathes of southern Italy this summer, helped by record high temperatures, ravaging …
Read More »German rescue ship carrying 257 migrants docks in Sicily after days in limbo
A German rescue ship carrying 257 migrants docked in Sicily on Saturday, after Italian authorities granted permission. Another humanitarian vessel with 549 people aboard still awaits an assigned port, six days after the start of rescue operations in the Mediterranean. After several days in limbo at sea, Sea-Watch 3 sailed …
Read More »Firemen fighting wildfires in Italy’s Sicily for second straight day
Firemen in Italy said on Saturday they were battling for a second straight day of wildfires in Sicily that reached the town of Catania, forcing people to leave their homes and the local airport to temporarily shut down.
Read More »Nearly 600 rescued migrants disembark from charity boat in Italy
Hundreds of migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean disembarked on Friday in the southern Italian town of Augusta, in Sicily, after Rome-based maritime authorities agreed to give their ship a port. The Ocean Viking vessel, operated by SOS Mediterranee, carried 572 people, including around 180 minors, after picking them up …
Read More »Cruise passengers test positive for Covid-19 in Italy
Two passengers on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean have tested positive for Covid-19. The pair were traveling on the MSC Seaside cruise ship and disembarked with their families in Syracuse, Sicily, on Tuesday, MSC said on Wednesday. The two passengers were asymptomatic. The cruise had previously docked in Malta …
Read More »Italy To Allow 180 Migrants To Leave Ship: Charity
Italy has authorised charity vessel Ocean Viking to disembark 180 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean in Sicily, ship operator SOS Mediterranee said on Sunday. “We have received instructions from the Italian maritime authorities to disembark those on board in Porto Empedocle,” a spokesman for the charity told AFP, which has …
Read More »Scores of Italian Mafia Bosses May Be Freed From Jail Due to COVID-19 Risks – Report
Earlier in April, Italian judges ordered the release of at least two mobsters over the age of 70 and placed them under house arrest amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Scores of mafia bosses currently behind bars could be freed all across Italy due to coronavirus pandemic-related risks, The Guardian reports. …
Read More »Italian police seize German rescue ship, will disembark over 100 migrants.
Italian police on Monday seized a German migrant rescue ship that had been stranded at sea for a week and will disembark more than 100 migrants soon, according to a police spokesman. The ship’s captain had earlier set course for the port of Pozzallo, on the island of Sicily, sparking …
Read More »Video: Mount Etna erupts, disrupting flights in Sicily
Europe’s highest volcano, Mount Etna in southern Italy, bursts into life with explosions and lava flows from one of the craters on the deserted area at the top of the Sicilian volcano.
Read More »Tourists flee as volcano rocks Italian island of Stromboli.
A huge volcanic eruption has rocked the small Italian island of Stromboli, near Sicily, reportedly sending tourists fleeing in fear for their lives. Columns of black smoke continue to billow from the volcano in the wake of the sudden activity, which alarmed some island visitors so much that they fled …
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