Jebel et Tahir

In the past, an island formerly known as Saiban was an important navigational reference for passing ships.

Perhaps in 1332 there was a volcanic eruption on the island.

Historically, the Ottoman Empire controlled the islands of the Red Sea, and granted the French company a concession to the lighthouse on the island of Jebel al-Tahir.

In 1883 there was an eruption of a volcano on the island of Jebel al-Tahir.

In 1900, the British Admiralty described the island as having no natural sources of fresh water and having a high conical peak that rises above a basalt steep shore with a height of about 300 feet (90 m) relative to the coast.

British troops occupied the island in 1915, but sovereignty was intentionally left undefined. After the period of the Franco-British operation, the lighthouse concession was transferred to the British company, that is, to Yemen.

The sovereignty of the island has long been debated between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen. By agreement of 1962, lighthouses were to be maintained on the island at the expense of shippers.

In 1973, Yemen notified Ethiopia of its intention to take aerial photographs, and Ethiopia’s controversial reaction was later controversial. Ethiopia designated the islands as "islands with no recognized owners." The dispute and independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia after 1993 resulted in a crisis in 1995 regarding the Hanish Islands and Zukar Island .

The earthquake on the island of Jebel al-Tahir, located in the middle southern part of the Red Sea, took place in 1996. ^[3]

After a dispute with Eritrea, Yemen held a military base on the western part of the island of Jebel al-Tahir from 1996 until the volcano erupted in 2007. ^[1] Before the volcanic eruption, the island had two watchtowers to control and monitor large warships, cargo ships and oil tankers passing by.

As a result of an international decision in 1998-99, the Permanent Court of Arbitration divided the islands between Eritrea and Yemen, respectively.

After 124 years of rest, the volcano that created the island erupted on September 30, 2007 . The eruption of the volcano and the exit of lava continued daily until December 4, and then the activity of the volcano decreased and it subsided in 2008. ^[2]

A powerful volcanic eruption occurred on the island on September 30, 2007 . Before the eruption, the length of the island was 3 kilometers ^[4] , an area of ​​3.9 square kilometers, the height of the volcano 244 m. ^[2]

Eruption

Two weeks before the eruption, in the area of ​​the island, slight tremors were recorded with a magnitude of 2 to 3.6. Scientists suggest that they could also cause a volcanic eruption. ^{[5] [6]} Presumably, the eruption was caused by a major landslide that descended in the western part on Sunday morning ^{[5] [6]} , September 30, 2007 . On the evening of September 30, 2007, local media reported three tremors around the island with a magnitude of 4 - 4.3 on the Richter scale, after which lava surged from the crater of the volcano. According to information received from the Yemeni news agency SABA, the eruption occurred at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT or 20:00 Moscow time). ^{[5] [6]}

On September 30, Ken Allen, a spokesman for the Canadian Navy, sent an email to reporters from the Toronto board saying that the entire island is "glowing with lava and magma flowing into the sea." “Lava erupts into the air for many tens of meters, and volcanic ash rises 300 meters,” he wrote. ^{[1] The} north side of the island was described as follows: "nothing at all but red-hot lava." ^[7]

The only inhabitants of the island at the time of the eruption were the Yemeni military. In total, about 50 people served in the garrison on the island. There is no permanent population on the island. ^[eight]

Initially, the leadership of the military base located on the island reported four dead servicemen - the soldiers were absorbed in lava flows. The Yemeni government has decided to evacuate a military unit located on this island and the survivors were evacuated by the Yemeni Coast Guard. Several people were taken to hospitals with burns and injuries. ^[8] According to Yemeni naval forces in the first half of October 1, 2007, at least nine people went missing at sea.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, on the eve of the eruption, arrived in the port city of Hodeida , located about 130 kilometers from the island of Jebel al-Tahir, to control the situation. He ordered the search for the missing. ^[five]

At this time, the SNMG1 group of six ships of the NATO fleet, passing by, was heading to the Suez Canal . The Yemeni authorities turned for help to a passing unit of the NATO naval forces. ^[9] Press release of Standing NATO Maritime Group ONE (Print Edition SNMG1) of October 1, 2007 (literal translation):

"PRESS RELEASE
Standing NATO Maritime Group ONE Aids in
Volcanic Eruption Search and Rescue
October 1, 2007 :

Off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea - in the afternoon of September 30, 2007, SNMG1, passing the Red Sea in the north direction, received a report from the Canadian ship HMCS ^[10] TORONTO about the explosion of about 80 nautical miles North of the group. Two ships, NRP ALVARES CABRAL ( Portugal ) and HNLMS EVERTSEN ( Netherlands ), as the vanguard in front of the group, were on stage by the end of the day, confirming the eruption of a volcano on the island of Jazeera at-Tyr.

Working directly with the Yemen Coast Guard Operations Center, a six-ship NATO group consisting of the Portuguese frigate NRP ALVARES CABRAL with its Lynx Mk95 helicopter, the USS BAINBRIDGE , the flagship commander of the NATO Marine Group 1, the Dutch frigate HERNNL HDMS OLFERT FISCHER, German tanker FGS SPESSART and Canadian frigate HMCS TORONTO, searched the waters around the island for an entire night to survive surviving the effects of a volcanic eruption.

An alarm sounded at BAINBRIDGE this morning when a person was discovered in the water. At 08:45 hours local time, BAINBRIDGE picked up a living Yemen from the water, tired of the ordeal during the night, but in good health and mood. Soon after, HMCS TORONTO picked up a second survivor. After consultations with the Yemen Coast Guard, the SNMG1 ships remain in the immediate vicinity of Jazir al-Tayr to continue the search for survivors. " ^[11]

Affected

A soldier of the Yemeni garrison Ali Sari, escaping during a volcanic eruption on the island of Jebel al-Tahir, spent 21 hours at sea before a Canadian ship saved him. The soldier said that after the first eruption of the crater on Sunday, all members of the garrison, in which, according to him, there were 70 people, threw themselves into the water. After some time, most of them returned to shore, but nine people did not do this, fearing lava, and continued to swim in the open sea. People who were at sea saw ships passing by and to no avail cried out for help. Ali later lost sight of his companions, whose fate he knew nothing about. The Canadian sailors, who had been bitten by a fish, were brought aboard and handed over to the Yemeni authorities. ^{[6] [12]}

According to news from April 3, 2007: “Earlier, a representative of the Canadian Navy command, Ken Allen, reported eight deaths during a volcanic eruption. More than ten people are officially reported as missing. All personnel at the base at the time of the eruption were evacuated. ” ^{[6] [12]}

During the events described, the command and control center in the Naval Operational Campaign was led by Hussein Abdul-Rahman. ^[13]

The search for the missing continued until at least September 2, inclusive.

According to information, after the eruption, 21 people were evacuated from the island, according to other sources, 29 people.

As a result of the awakening of the volcano, the western part of the island, on which the military base was located, was completely destroyed. ^[one]

The MODIS satellite detected thermal anomalies over the island every day after the eruption on December 4, 2007 inclusive. Lava flows periodically appeared from September 30 to December 4, 2007. Yemen's Ministry of Fisheries of Wealth (MFW) has warned all fishermen not to approach the island of Jebel al-Tahir due to the awakening of the volcano ^[14] (December 1, 2007).

However, according to the site about volcanoes, the last eruption of the Jebel al-Tahir volcano was in 2008 . ^[2]

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  September 30, 2007

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  September 30, 2007

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  October 1, 2007

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  Morning October 1, 2007

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  October 1, 2007

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  Morning October 2, 2007

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  October 2, 2007

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  Jebel al-Tahir Island, October 2, 2007