Mountain rescue officials were monitoring guides and tourists who hiked up Mount Etna on Sunday evening to watch the lava flows on Europe’s most active volcano.

Standing at a height of nearly 3,000 meters (9843 ft) Paolo Bernardini, Commander of the Italian Finance Police Mountain Rescue Squad, said that lava continued to flow although the rate of the flows and tremors were decreasing.

Safety measures are in place with guides not allowed to take more than 10 people up to view the spectacle at a time.

Bernandini was accompanied by the team's volcano dog to help with the monitoring, a German shepherd named Tito.

For days Mount Etna, continent’s largest volcano, has provided a spectacular show, with glowing orange lava oozing down its slopes.

Excursions are popular on Etna, which is some 3,350 meters (around 11,050 feet) above sea level and 35 kilometers (22 miles) in diameter.

With Etna’s lava flows largely contained to its uninhabited slopes, life goes in towns and villages elsewhere on the mountain.

Among the benefits of the volcano: fertile farmland and tourism.