Mount Etna ash shuts Sicily’s largest airport during peak holiday week

Ash spewing from Sicily’s Mount Etna has forced the closure of the Italian island’s largest airport for the fifth consecutive day, stranding hundreds of summer holiday travellers during the biggest travel week of the year.Catania’s airport will remain closed until early Saturday, which falls on the Ferragosto holiday that marks the height of the Italian summer holiday season when millions flock to the sea and mountains, deserting Italian cities.While Etna’s activity often interrupts flights at the airport, located 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the volcano, this is the longest emergency since 2002.“Volcanic ash can be a great risk for aircraft,” said Boris Behncke, a researcher at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology’s Etna Observatory.“It can be sucked into the motors,