Sicilian volcano Mt Etna erupts in front of BBC crew

Members of a BBC crew ran for their lives amid a rain of "rock, burning boulders and boiling steam" when an Italian volcano erupted right in front of them.

Ten people were hurt but remarkably no one was killed when Sicily's Mount Etna blew its top overnight, forcing those nearby into a panicked flight back towards the nearby city of Catania.

The BBC's science correspondent Rebecca Morelle and her team were among those forced to flee, with camerawoman Rachel Price recording amazing footage of the massive cloud of ash bursting from the earth.

The crew, exhausted and panicked, made it back to a large snowmobile which had sustained damage from flying debris, with some sustaining "cuts, bruises and burns," according to Morelle, adding that they were all "very shaken" by the "extremely scary" experience.

Morelle also tweeted a picture of Price holding up her snow jacket with a huge rent burned through it.

Price fared better than one elderly woman nearby, however, with Morelle saying the 78-year-old had been "pelted with rocks and boiling steam", and that a guide’s shoulder had been dislocated.

One volcanologist told the BBC that this latest eruption from Etna, one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, was the most dangerous he had seen in 30 years.