Sicily's Catania airport was closed on Thursday because of an eruption of nearby Mt Etna.

The closure came at a particularly bad time for travellers at the height of Ferragosto, the holiday season in Italy, as well as Malta.

Several Maltese are at Catania airport, awaiting flights out.

A KM Malta Airlines/Ita flight which was due to leave Malta for Catania at 6am was initially delayed for hours, and then cancelled, as was the return flight.

A Ryanair flight from Malta at 12.10pm was cancelled, along with its return. 

The eruption, from the Voragine crater began late on Wednesday, covering nearby villages in smoke and ash. Mount Etna also spectacularly erupted two weeks ago, also causing Catania airport to close. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.