Volcano tsunami could engulf Italian coast 'at any time': NIGV

London, Mar 30(ANI): The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (NIGV) has warned that Europe's largest undersea volcano, Marsili, could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf the Italian coast "at any time".

The NIGV has said that the Marsili, located 150 kilometres south of Naples, has "fragile walls" that could collapse.

"It could even happen tomorrow," The Telegraph quoted Enzo Boschi, the President of the NIGV, as saying. Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions. All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time," he added.

Though it has not erupted in recorded history, volcanologists at the institute believe that Marsili is a relatively fragile-walled structure filled with large amounts of hot magma.

"A rupture of the walls would let loose millions of cubic metres of material capable of generating a very powerful wave," 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," he added.

Marsili is 70 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and its crater is some 450 metres below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea. (ANI)