A tourist from the United States died in Sicily on Mount Etna from a lightning strike, the Italian agency ANSA reported. According to media reports, a 30-year-old man entered an area closed to visitors when a powerful thunderstorm began there.
Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe, its height is more than 3,350 m. It erupts quite often, the current eruption has lasted for more than a week.
The tourist's name and details have not been released, but according to the Associated Press, he is from Kansas.
Rescuers found the man, whose heart had already stopped, at around 8:00 pm local time on Sunday and he was evacuated to a hospital in the city of Catania. However, doctors were unable to resuscitate the tourist and he was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m., Catania Today newspaper reported.
ANSA adds that on the same day, a tourist died for the same reason in another part of Italy: in the province of South Tyrol in the Alps, lightning struck a man who was descending from the Piz Starlex mountain.
AP notes that on Etna more people die from lightning strikes than directly from volcanic activity. The last case of death as a result of an eruption was recorded in 1987.
About 1.5 million people visit Etna every year. Due to the recent increase in volcanic activity, which even disrupted the work of the local airport, authorities have limited access to some parts of the mountain.
