ROCKING THE BOAT
Terrifying moment huge gas cloud from Stromboli volcano eruption closes in on fleeing sailboat crew
THE moment a small sailboat crew flees from being engulfed by an enormous gas cloud erupting from a volcano in Italy has been captured on film.
Dramatic footage shows a large cloud filling the sky on the island of Stromboli as a panicked sailing crew shout to each other to leave the area.
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A trail of billowing smoke is then seen encroaching, terrifying close to the escaping boat.
One man on board looks up to see the thick plumes fill the sky above the tiny Mediterranean island
The volcano began to erupt back in July - spewing lava “from all active mouths of the crater” and a thick ash plume 6,000ft high, said Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
Then two powerful blasts rocked the island and sent burning embers raining down on the holiday hot spot.
The eruption, which sent molten rock spilling from the mountain, was likened to a "nuke explosion".
Emergency services rushed to the scene as the explosion started fires on the western side of Stromboli.
At least 30 tourists jumped into the sea for safety and other people barricaded themselves inside homes as the ash ignited a series of blazes, reports Italy's ANSA agency.
Expert Stefano Branca said that there had been a "paroxysmal eruption" on the island - which involves high-pressure magma exploding from a shallow, underground reservoir.
He said: ";These are events of great intensity and quite rare."
Massimo Imbesi, 35, from nearby Sicily, was named as the hiker who was killed when he was hit by rocks flung from the crater.
His Brazilian friend was discovered dehydrated and in a state of shock.
About 70 people were evacuated from the village of Ginostra, and fire crews tackled blazes that broke out across the island which has the same name as the volcano at its heart.
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Stromboli's population is around 500 and its economy is based almost entirely on tourism and visitors often climb the 3,000ft summit to peer into the crater - which regularly sends small puffs into the air.
According to the geology.com website, Stromboli is one of the most active volcanoes on the planet.
Nicknamed "the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean", it has been erupting almost continuously since 1932 and for most of the past 2,000 years.
The island and its active volcano have become iconic in popular culture, with J.R.R Tolkein claiming he based the fictional volcano, Mount Doom of Mordor on Stromboli.
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