ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />Sicily's Mount Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano, sent streams of red hot lava and ash plumes into the sky as it erupted.<br/> <br />The main phase of the eruption lasted about five hours between midnight and shortly before dawn. It consisted of violent pulsating lava fountains reaching 300-600 meters in height, as well as thundering explosions of giant magma bubbles that ejected large glowing liquid spatter hundreds of meters in radial directions. There were several lava flows.<br/> <br />There were no reports of damage or evacuations in the area and the nearby airport of Catania was operating as normal, local media reported.<br/> <br />It is the 16th time that Etna has erupted in 2013. The south-eastern crater, formed in 1971, has been the most active in recent years.
