Accidents on Stromboli volcano

Explosion on 16. October 1993, one person severly injured

Report by Peter Baumann, Zürich, Switzerland (telefone interview 5.7.1997)

Mr. Baumann had climbed Stromboli on 14. October 1993 and found activity fairly weak. He did see eruptions perhaps every 30 mins. On 15. October he climbed again, this time with his goddaughter and his sister, Mrs. Ehrat. On the way up they met a man descending, because activity was low and there was little to see. Another group of Swiss tourists were waiting at Bastimento (near the little cave).When reaching Pizzo Mr. Baumann's group saw hardly any eruptive activity. They were disappointed but decided to wait anyway. They camped right on the summit.

At 01:10 GMT a very loud explosion woke up Mrs. Ehrat. Mr. Baumann cannot remember if he actually was awake already. Blocks fell around them and all three were hit, but Mr. Baumann and child only by small scoria. Mrs Ehrat's cloths immediately caught fire. She was wearing a sweater made from synthetics which completely burnt except for the zipper.

The burnt foam mattress, photo 17.10.1993

Mr. Baumann managed to smother the flames by throwing himself and another sleeping bag onto his sister. They then realised that «everything around them was glowing red». They were so stunned they were unable to decide what to do next.

Pictures taken on the next day, maps and more information about the eruption

After some time (Mr. Baumann finds it hard to estimate, maybe after just a few minutes) there was another, equally loud explosion and again blocks flew to the summit, but did not hit them again The second eruption made them believe more would follow. They thought that walking around at night might be dangerous and waited. Mr. Baumann tried to cover the wounds of Mrs. Ehrat which, they now realised, were serious. About one hour after the eruptions Mr. Baumann went to look down to the craters. The terrace was totally covered by still glowing material. He cannot say which crater was the source of the eruption.

Roughly around 4 am, still in the dark, they started to descend, hoping to find help at Bastimento where they had seen the other group the previous evening. At that time the blocks on the ridge did not glow anymore. Indeed, at Bastimento, they found the other tourists, but they received no help. The other people told them that «they had no time because they had to leave the island today». Mr. Baumann is still shocked about the fact that they were not assisted in this terrible situation, and despite the fact that Mrs. Ehrat had very obvious and serious wounds.

Nevertheless they managed to descend to the village and received first aid in the medical station near the church of San Vincenzo. Later they left for the hospital in Lipari.