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Canadian Navy Ship Helps With Search-and-Rescue Operation After Yemen Volcano

Posted on: Monday, 1 October 2007, 03:00 CDT

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - Canadian navy ship H-M-C-S Toronto is conducting a search-and-rescue operation to find nine people believed at sea after a volcanic eruption on Jazirt Atta-Ir island, about 140 kilometres off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea.

The navy said in a news release from Ottawa that at the time of the eruption, the NATO fleet was sailing north toward the Suez Canal.

Navy spokesman Ken Allen, aboard H-M-C-S Toronto, says the government of Yemen formally asked NATO to assist in the search for survivors.

He said what he called a catastrophic volcano hit the three-kilometre-long island at about 7 p-m local time.

Allen says lava was spewing hundreds of metres into the air, with volcanic ash also rising 300 metres into the air.

In an e-mail from the Toronto, Allen says the entire island is aglow with lava and magma as it pours into the sea.

The Yemeni news agency SABA confirmed the eruption and said a military garrison on the island is being evacuated.

SABA reported that the Yemeni government said eight people were missing. It is unclear why there was a discrepancy or if the reports were even talking about the same people.

It wasn't clear how many people were stationed on the island, which is used for naval control and observation because large cargo ships pass nearby.

In a later interview, Allen told The Canadian Press: "We don't know very much about the island."

"We were told there was a military base on the island and we suspect the nine people are military personnel."

HMCS Toronto left Halifax on July 20, 2007 for a five-month deployment during which it will conduct operations in the Mediterranean and circumnavigate Africa.

There are five other NATO ships with the Toronto in the area of the volcano.

Source: Canadian Press

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