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Residents flee volcano island
STROMBOLI, Italy -- A tidal wave caused by volcanic activity has forced up to a third of the population of a small Mediterranean island to flee. An estimated 140 of the 450 residents of Stromboli, in southern Italy, have left since the wave crashed into boats and homes on Monday. Rescue workers said on Tuesday that up to six people were injured by the wave which damaged several houses in the village of Ginostra. Rescue services spokesman Luca Spoletini told Reuters: "Only a few people, most of them elderly, insisted on staying at home but apart from them everyone has left Ginostra, the village is pretty much empty." Rescue workers who travelled by helicopter over the island's volcano -- one of the most active in Europe -- said they saw one of its slopes slide into the sea, creating the massive wave. Inhabitants reported hearing an explosion that was thought to have set off the landslide, but the vulcanology institute has not confirmed the chain of events. The volcano is spewing rivers of lava and columns of thick ash over the area. "We don't want any tourists or onlookers in the area while the seismic activity is still going on," said Mariano Bruno, mayor of nearby island of Lipari, which oversees Stromboli. Spoletini said the island had been sealed off to tourists. Stromboli, a cone-shaped island that sits 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Sicily, is noted for frequent minor eruptions. Its volcano is part of the same system that includes Mount Etna, in Sicily, which most recently began erupting began in October. Enzo Boschi, the head of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, told the Associated Press that activity of the two volcanos appear to be connected. He said: "They are part of the same system."
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