September 30, 2007 Eruption of Jebel at Tair

Bodies of 4 Yemini Coast Guard personnel were recovered offshore. (reference #9675)

Statements from Yemeni Coast Guard sources to news media soon after the onset of activity were that "around 50" soldiers had been evacuated from the island. Communications from the Yemeni Coast Guard to the NATO fleet, when assistancewas requested on 30 September, indicated that 21 of the 29 soldiers on the island had been rescued with eight missing. Ships later rescued two soldiers and recovered the bodies of four soldiers from the Red Sea. Reports on 1 October by news media quoting evacuated soldiers and sources in the Yemeni Naval Forces indicated that 3-4 soldiers were killed at the onset of the eruption. One soldier stated that his comrades had been "burned by lava." No official statements were later made about fatalities among the soldiers, so it is unknown if these early reports were accurate. (reference #13970)

A volcano erupted on a Yemeni Red Sea island late on Sunday, September 30, 2007, killing at least seven soldiers and spewing lava and ash hundreds of meters into the air. A government official said seven bodies had been recovered, along with one survivor, all soldiers stationed on Jabal al-Tair island, some 80 miles (130 km) off Yemen's mainland. A Defense Ministry official on the island, which has been home to a military base since Yemen's 1996 conflict with Eritrea, said its western part had "collapsed" into the sea. Naval ships were searching the surrounding waters for missing soldiers. The island has no civilian inhabitants. (reference #3454)

Two weeks prior to the eruption, the area around the island had seen light earthquakes between magnitude 2-3.6 on the Richter scale, with three larger ones yesterday reaching magnitude 4.3.