Explosion in Stromboli, the victim is a hiker: ships ready to go offshore but no evacuation at the moment

A 35-year-old man from Milazzo was the victim of today's violent eruption on Stromboli. He was hiking near the Sciara del Fuoco when he was caught unawares by the eruption. The Municipality of Lipari reports that "there will not be a formal evacuation" from Stromboli following the volcano's eruption, but "all those wishing to leave the island will be provided with the necessary means to do so safely." The Sicilian Regional Civil Protection Department announced the incident. The Sicilian Regional Civil Protection Department has ordered a military vessel and a private vessel to be stationed off Stromboli to assist with a possible evacuation of the island, which was affected by the violent eruption and fires this afternoon. This was stated by the head of the regional Civil Protection Department, Calogero Foti, who added: "The situation is currently calm; it is a precautionary measure. Many tourists who decided to do so have already been taken by Coast Guard patrol boats to Lipari and assisted there by the mayor. It was a particularly violent event, with consequences even at low altitude, some of which were dramatic, such as the death of the hiker." Beginning at 16:46 PM on July 3, 2019, a violent paroxysmal explosive sequence occurred that affected the central-southern area of ​​the Stromboli crater terrace. From the images from the surveillance cameras of the INGV Etna Observatory (INGV-OE), it was possible to distinguish two main explosive events in close proximity, at 16:46:10 PM and 16:46:40 PM respectively. The sequence was preceded, at 16:44 PM, by several lava overflows from all the active vents on the crater terrace. The INGV reported this in a statement. "INGV personnel in the field observed an eruptive column that rose over 2 km above the summit area, dispersing in a southwesterly direction. The products generated by the explosive sequence fell back down the volcano's flanks. Analysis of seismic network data allowed the identification of approximately 20 smaller explosive events, in addition to the major explosions. After the paroxysmal phase ended, the amplitude of the volcanic tremor significantly decreased. The evolution of the phenomena is being continuously monitored through monitoring networks and by field personnel from the INGV Sections, the Etna Observatory in Catania, the Vesuvius Observatory in Naples, and the Palermo Geochemistry Section. "This afternoon's Stromboli explosions were an absolutely exceptional phenomenon. Five or six of them occur every hundred years," said Angelo Borrelli, head of the Civil Protection Department, on TG1.