page_title: Jabal al-Tair Island
section_title: 2007 eruption
hierarchical_section_title: Jabal al-Tair Island / 2007 eruption
caption_attribution_description: Eruption of Jabal al-Tair Island
context_page_description: Jabal al-Tair Island is a roughly oval volcanic island in Yemen, northwest of the constricted Bab al-Mandab passage at the mouth of the Red Sea, about halfway between mainland Yemen and Eritrea. From 1996 until it erupted in 2007, Yemen maintained two watchtowers and a small military base on the island.
  After 124 years of dormancy, the volcano that created the island erupted on 30 September 2007.
context_section_description: The volcano erupted at 7 p.m. local time on 30 September 2007, throwing lava and ash hundreds of meters into the air.  Subsequently, at least one stream of lava was seen flowing down into the sea.  It was reported that 29 Yemeni soldiers (around 50 according to one report) were evacuated from the island shortly before the eruption, but 8 were unaccounted for. Several bodies were recovered from the water.
  It was reported that the western part of the island, where the Yemeni military base was, had collapsed.
  Yemeni authorities requested help from a nearby NATO naval force, and the nearest ship, a United States Naval vessel USS Bainbridge, was reported to be aiding the Yemeni coastguard.
  Other ships from NATO Standing NRF Maritime Group 1 assisted in the rescue and recovery effort, including HMCS Toronto; the Bainbridge and Toronto each rescued one survivor. The Portuguese frigate NRP Álvares Cabral and the Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen were first on the scene.
  Both survivors were rescued after over 20 hours in the water, just as the task force was preparing to close down its search. A Canadian officer described a "spectacular backdrop of erupting lava and shooting flames" faced by search parties in small boats.
  Several minor earthquakes ranging from 2 to 3.6 on the moment magnitude scale were reported near the island in the two weeks before the eruption.
  Earlier documented eruptions of this volcano include several reported in the 18th and 19th centuries, the most recent (before 2007) in 1883, and possibly one in 1332.
  A Yemeni government geologist expects the volcano to "take time to calm down",
  but shipping, including tankers carrying 3 million barrels of oil, that pass through the Red Sea daily, have not been affected.
  In December 2007 it was reported that activity on the island had increased and fishermen were warned to avoid the area.
caption: Eruption, observed from the USS Bainbridge
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