A group of Trinity College students has told of the "confusion, fear and anxiety" after they were caught in the middle of Mount Etna's eruption in Sicily this morning while on holiday to celebrate their graduation.
Last night, the seven chemistry and two geography graduates booked onto a tour to see the famous volcano.
This morning, at around 9.20 local time, they were collected by a minibus which drove them up towards the site.
They said it was clear along the way that the volcano was showing more activity than usual, but the bus driver simply pointed out how beautiful it looked and there was no sense of alarm.
At around 11.20am, the minibus parked at an altitude of 2,800 metres and the students disembarked.
Just minutes later, an explosion of pyroclastic material - a dense mix of hot slabs of lava, pumice, ash and volcanic gas - caused immediate panic.
One student, Marina, recalled how smoke rapidly poured towards them down the side of the crater.
Marina also revealed a part of the crater had collapsed, which she said was a rare event they were only made aware of later.
"The tour guides and bus drivers ran in panic towards the buses and shouted at everyone to get to the buses fast," she told RTÉ News.
"There was about five buses honking their horns in urgency.
"We waited for everyone to get on for around 10 minutes. People were taking pictures and there was no clear protocol to get everyone on board."
Marina said panicked passengers were yelling for the buses to leave.
"Eventually they drove us down to a lower, safer point and dropped everyone off to go collect the hikers in potential danger."
The group of Trinity students waited for about 25 minutes for the buses to come back to bring them back down to the base.
Meanwhile, the volcano continued to erupt intermittently as the cloud of smoke expanded.
"People were coughing, some covered their noses and mouths," Marina said.
"There were no clear instructions or protocol. The atmosphere was confusion, fear and anxiety."
They arrived back at the base at 12.30pm, and were taken down to Giardini Naxos, the city where they are staying.
Marina said that one of the tour guides had attempted to ease the mood by pointing out the pyroclastic flow is "like what happened in Pompeii".
The 'booms sounded like a series of jet engines'
Another student said he was "really frightened" when Mt Etna erupted.
Cork-native Alex Stoian said as they were approaching on the minibus they could see the smoke from the mountain darkening and they heard a series of really loud booms.
"Initially it was cool and not really worrying," Mr Stoian said.
Mr Stoian said that the booms sounded like a series of jet engines taking off.
Stones began flying out from the top of the mountain.
Their tour guide was relaxed at first but then he began to tell them to get back on the bus and then began to jog back to the bus himself.
Mr Stoian said he and his friends ran back to the buses. By this stage he says he was really scared.
The bus drivers however did not want to leave because there were other tourists further up the mountain and they didn't want to leave without a full bus.
Mr Stoian said that he and two other people on the bus broke down crying. People were pleading with the bus driver to move.
At 3,330 metres high, Mount Etna is Europe's tallest active volcano.
It is believed to have the longest documented history of eruptions among all volcanoes, with records dating back to as early as 425 BC.
It remains popular with tourists, who often go on guided tours to see its eruptions.
