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 The BBC's Jane Bennett Powell"The authorities have now enlisted mechanical help"  real 56k |
In pictures: Etna in action
The Italian Government has declared a state of emergency in eastern Sicily as Europe's largest active volcano, Mount Etna, continues its dramatic eruption. 
Civil defence teams are working to keep the lava from reaching towns on the slopes of the volcano but it has already cut roads and destroyed ski lifts.
A volcanologist watches the intense activity at Mount Etna as the flow creeps nearer to the village of Nicolosi
Civil defence authorities deploy bulldozers to dig protective trenches against the approaching lava
Overnight, lava poured down the slopes of Etna, as the lights of Catania glittered below
And in the day, sunbathers at Catania are forced off the beach by ash
The lava created dramatic light effects as it crept onwards
Its lowest edge is advancing at five metres per hour
Five new holes have opened in the side of the volcano
The eruption spews rocks and red-hot ash into the air
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