Mount Etna eruption: Huge plumes of smoke fill the air

Mount Etna, Europe’s highest active volcano, erupted on June 2, prompting a red aviation alert.

Footage shows large smoke plumes rising from the volcano between Messina and Catania.

Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported "strombolian explosions of growing intensity," with mild ash falling in the Piano Vetore area.

The aviation alert was initially raised to Red but later changed to Orange.

Volcanic tremors increased leading up to the eruption, but no ash cloud was detected in early satellite images, only water vapor and sulfur dioxide drifting southwest.

Updates on the situation are ongoing.