1.
CU Lava flow and flames seen at night (3 shots)
0.16

2.
GV PAN Fornazzo sign and roadway.
0.21

3.
GV ZOOM IN burning lava across field and foliage (3 shots)
0.50

4.
CU PAN burning debris and timbers.
1.00

5.
GV PAN hill of lava piled up against side of house (2 shots)
1.10


BURNING LAVA BY NIGHT; LAVA PILED AGAINST WALL OF HOUSE.




Initials VS/23.00 VS/23.55


orig film on 5950/71

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Sicily lava continues to pour from Mt. Etna, one of the world's most famous active volcanoes. By Tuesday, two weeks after it began, it was less than 300 yards (metres) from the village of Fornazzo where some 300 people live.

This film, shot by VISNEWS cameraman Enzo Giambattista, shows a vast mound of lava reaching right up to the walls of one of the houses of the village.

This coverage was flows to Rome from where it was injected into Tuesday's Eurovision exchange of news between European television networks. To speed the handling of the film for VISNEWS other subscribers throughout the world VISNEWS recorded the film in London from the Eurovision exchange for world distribution.

SYNOPSIS: In Sicily red-hot lava continues to pour from Mt. Etna, two weeks after it first began to ooze down the slopes of the active volcano. As the lava advanced on Monday night it caused fresh damage to the fields around the little village of Fornazzo. The moving finger of lava was some 60 yards wide and moving in stops and starts down the rugged mountainside. During the night a secondary branch broke from the main lava stream several hundred yards above the village. At times the lava flow was moving at 40 yards an hour. Already it has engulfed several small peasant houses on the mountain slopes.

Now the lava is posing a serious threat to the village of Fornazzo. It will probably bury some of the houses. The villagers are ready to leave if necessary. But some experts believe the lava will miss the centre of the village.