Etna lava flows appear to slow

A plume of molten lava erupts from Mt. Etna on Saturday

MOUNT ETNA, Sicily -- Geologists in Italy say lava flows from Mount Etna appear to be stabilising.

On Saturday the river of lava was nearly 100 meters from a tourist base and about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the town of Nicolosi.

Emergency workers are building embankments to direct the flows away from inhabited areas.

But ash from the volcano is giving eastern Sicily's main airport a headache. Flights were diverted after it was closed for a few hours.

It was the second time in as many weeks that flights into and out of Fontanarossa airport have had to be cancelled or diverted because thick flakes of grey ash covering the airstrip made flying too dangerous.

The airport was reopened late Saturday after the ash was cleared away, news reports said.

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Emergency workers continued a round-the-clock battle to prevent Etna's lava flow reaching mountainside tourist facilities.

Officials said the lava was slowing but still threatening a clutch of souvenir shops and a cable car base.

By Saturday, the lava heading toward the Sapienza Tourist base was about 100 meters (300 feet) from the souvenir stands, which lie at an altitude of 1,910 meters (6, 266 feet).

In addition, the lava front heading toward the town of Nicolosi (population 6,000) was still about four kilometres away -- the same position it has been in for the past several days.

By late Saturday, officials reported that two new fronts were threatening electric pylons used by the Italian utility Enel and the rail authority, but no other structures were in the way.

Emergency crew were racing to try to keep them from being destroyed, officials said.

They struggled to erect embankments out of earth and volcanic rock to divert the flow and protect the Rifugio Sapienza tourist base, which has already had its parking lot covered by lava and a warehouse torched.

"For the moment the earthworks have the lava under control," Salvatore Spampinato, a geologist at the institute.

"If the lava front keeps the same characteristics, the lava will stay under control."

Two new fractures opened on Friday night which vulcanologists said may ease the pressure forcing the lava towards the Sapienza base and a village further down the volcano.

Sapienza: Under threat from the creeping lava flow

The archbishop of Catania said he would pray on Sunday to ask that the eruption stop. Police have banned tourists from going up the mountain.

Nello Musumeci, a government commissioner, said: "We are fighting an enemy which is much stronger than man."

Sonia Calvari, volcanologist with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, Sicily, told CNN: "We know now that the volcano is still inflating. We see lava flow in many parts of the eruptive fissure.

"It's, of course, a very important eruption. The most important I've seen in 15 years."

Experts say the eruption could go on for weeks.

Rivers of lava have flowed down the sides of the volcano, threatening nearby villages.

Thousands of gallons of water have been dropped by air to try to cool the advancing flow.

The eruption has caused $3.1 million in damage, including losses in tourism and agriculture, the local government said.

The last major eruption of Mount Etna, which towers 10,860 feet (3,310 metres) above Sicily, was in 1992. In a spectacular operation, Italian and U.S. military used controlled explosions to divert the flow.

A state of emergency remains in effect in the region, with dozens of families on standby to leave the village of Nicolosi.