ROME: A huge plume of ash, gas and rock spewed forth on Monday from Italy`s Mount Etna as authorities warned people to steer clear of Europe`s largest active volcano.

Sicily`s Mount Etna has been active recently but Monday`s eruption was the most dramatic, with experts warning that such activity could continue for weeks.

Images showed a massive grey cloud billowing from the volcano on the island of Sicily, beginning at 11:24 am local time, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

Surveillance cameras showed `a pyroclastic flow probably produced by a collapse of material from the northern flank of the Southeast Crater`, the agency said. A pyroclastic flow which is extremely dangerous occurs when volcanic rock, ash and hot gasses surge from volcanos.

The explosive activity `had transitioned to a lava fountain`, INGV said, describing jets of lava being sprayed into the air. By early afternoon, the plume had begun to dissipate.

An initial red alert that INGV issued for aviation authorities which estimated the height of the volcanic cloud at 6.5 kilometres (more than four miles) was downgraded to orange, then yellow.

By mid-afternoon, INGV said the eruption had stopped, with `no ash cloud produced`. The president of the region of Sicily, Renato Schifani, said experts had assured him there was `no danger for the population`, with the flow not having passed the Valley of the Lion, an area frequented by tourists.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show tourists hurrying down the side of the volcano, some taking photos, but AFP could not determine their authenticity.-AFP