Mount Etna Erupts: Watch Live Feed of Today's Eruption

Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily dramatically erupted on Monday morning, spewing a large cloud of ash and gas into the air.

The Etna Observatory of Italy’s national seismological agency said there was a “pyroclastic flow, likely caused by a collapse of material on the northern flank of the Southeast Crater” of the volcano.

“Based on preliminary observations, the hot material does not appear to have passed beyond the edge of the Valle del Leone,” the agency said in a release. “At the same time, explosive activity from the Southeast Crater has transitioned into a lava fountain.”

It also said volcanic tremor “has reached very high levels” but deformation—the change in its shape and structure—was in line with what was expected with the activity, and data signals “do not show significant changes”.