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Sicilians gathered on the slopes of Mount Etna to pray last night as a river of orange-black lava oozed towards the mounds of earth protecting a tourist resort.
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| Mount Etna's running lava in the early hours of July 24, 2001. Mount Etna is the most active volcano in Europe, five fissures have now opened up in the mountain, which has intensified its activity in recent weeks, and lava flows are now within four kilometres (2,4 miles) of the nearest village. [Reuters] |
A new fissure in the volcano opened earlier as emergency crews, blackened and sweating, battled to reinforce the mounds and divert lava away from Rifugio Sapienza. Mount Etna is Europe's most active volcano and stands at 10,860ft (3,310m).
The archbishop of Catania, Luigi Bommarito, held a mass on the slopes to ask for God's protection against an eruption that has wrongfooted vulcanologists and threatened the town of Nicolosi further down the slope. According to folklore, the town was saved in 1886 after the local archbishop held a statue of St Anthony before advancing lava.
Two main fronts sliding down the mountain appeared to have slowed, but the resort's kiosks were still menaced by magma that has consumed a warehouse, car park and ski-lifts, cut a highway in two and showered ash on to Catania's international airport.
Authorities closed the airport on Saturday for the second time in two weeks, forcing 190 flights to be cancelled. It reopened yesterday after workers had cleared debris from the runway, but explosive booms and smoke from the crater could yet force it to close for a third time.
Fields and tourism worth ￡5.7m have gone up in smoke and vulcanologists say the eruption could last several more weeks. Local guides who were born in the mountain's shadow are sceptical of assurances that Nicolosi, with a population of 6,000, is safe.
"It is a terrible moment. Even our grandfathers can't even remember it being like this," said Giovanni Serafina as lava bubbled less than three miles from the town's houses, many of which were adorned with statues of the Madonna for protection.
(Agencies)
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西西里的居民聚集在埃特納火山山坡上一起祈禱神靈的保佑，在離他們不遠的地方，火山噴出的紅黑色的熔巖流正朝著為保護旅游景點修建的土堤滲過來。
火山新近多了一個裂縫，救援人員已經是渾身漆黑，大汗淋漓，但他們仍然在為加固土堤，讓熔巖流改道，從而避免熔巖流流經Rifugio Sapienza 而奮戰。埃特納火山海拔10，860英尺（3，310米），是歐洲活動最為頻繁的活火山。
卡塔尼亞教區的主教利吉-伯馬瑞托在山坡上做起了彌撒，乞求上蒼保護住在山坡下尼可羅西鎮面臨火山威脅的居民。這次巖漿和火山學家們開了個玩笑，并沒有按照他們預測的路徑流過。根據當地民間傳說，1886年的時候當地一位主教在涌動的熔巖前舉起圣安東尼的塑像，阻止了熔巖的前進，而使這座城鎮幸免于難。
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| 7月29日，西西里島埃特納火山再次猛烈噴發，意大利官方被迫再次宣布這一地區進入緊急狀態。[路透社照片] |
現在沿著山坡往下流動的兩個主要巖漿流推進的速度已經減慢了。不過觀光景點的亭閣仍未擺脫被巖漿吞噬的危險。巖漿已經吞沒了一個倉庫、一個停車場和一些運送滑雪者上山的纜索吊椅，切斷了一條公路，卡塔尼亞國際機場內也彌漫著大量的火山灰。
當局已經在周日關閉了機場。致使190架航班被迫取消，這是兩周來這座機場第二次被關閉。在工人們把飛機跑道上的灰燼清理干凈之后，機場昨天重新對外開放。不過火山發出的隆隆巨響和火山口噴出的濃煙極有可能迫使機場第三次關閉。
農田和價值570萬英鎊的旅游收入一時間化為烏有，猶如火山濃煙消失在空中，無影無蹤。火山研究人員稱火山噴發還將持續幾個星期。出生在火山腳下的當地導游對擁有6，000居民的尼可羅西鎮能否安然度過此劫并沒有什么把握。
看著熔巖在距自己住所不到3英里的地方汩汩地流動，鎮上一位名叫杰奧瓦尼-瑟拉費那的居民說："太可怕了，就連我爺爺也未曾見到過這么可怕的場面。" 當地不少居民還把圣母瑪利亞的塑像樹立在家門口以求庇護。
(中國日報網站譯)
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Updated: 2001-08-02 01:00
