“A very violent explosion followed by a shower of glowing lapilli and lava material.” -Witness Gianluca Giuffre

A hiker was killed on Wednesday after a volcanic eruption on the tiny Sicilian island of Stromboli. CBS reports Stromboli is one of the most active volcanoes on the planet and has almost been erupting continuously since 1932 but the initial explosion Wednesday was the largest since at least 2007. A hotel worker on the island described the event like this:

“We saw the explosion from the hotel. There was a loud roar … we plugged our ears and after this a cloud of ash swept over us. The whole sky is full of ash, a fairly large cloud.”