Undersea volcano could destroy Italy 'as soon as tomorrow', expert warns
EUROPE'S largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy "at any time", a prominent vulcanologist has warned.
The Marsili volcano, which is bursting with magma, has "fragile walls" that could collapse, Enzo Boschi told the leading daily Corriere della Sera.
"It could even happen tomorrow," Prof Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said
"Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions," he said.
"All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time."
The event would result in "a strong tsunami that could strike the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily," Prof Boschi said.
The undersea Marsili, 3000m tall and located some 150km south-west of Naples, has not erupted since the start of recorded history.
It is 70km long and 30km wide, and its crater is some 450m below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
"A rupture of the walls would let loose millions of cubic metres of material capable of generating a very powerful wave," Prof Boschi said.
"While the indications that have been collected are precise, it is impossible to make predictions.
"The risk is real but hard to evaluate."