Mount Etna erupted on Thursday causing the nearby airport at Catania on Sicily’s eastern coast to temporarily suspend flights, the Italian Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) reported on Thursday. The volcano spewed a huge plume of ash and lava gases up to a height of 9,500 metres. The Catania airport authorities announced that they had shut down operations until 6 pm (1600 GMT). Flights resumed after 6 pm on a limited basis “following the cleaning and decontamination of the runway and movement area,” airport authorities said in a statement. The airport of the city of Palermo, some…