By Massoud A. Derhally
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Naval forces were searching for as many as nine people who were missing after a volcano off Yemen's Red Sea coast erupted for the first time since the 19th century.
Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in a lava flow after the eruption late yesterday, Agence France-Presse said, citing soldiers who survived. Two people were rescued from the sea and 21 others were evacuated from the island, Cable News Network reported. The volcanic island, Jabal al-Tair, is 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Yemeni city of al-Hudaydah.
The Yemeni Navy was joined in the search for the nine missing people by the Canadian Navy frigate Toronto, Canada's military said on its Web site. The Canadian ship is from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization fleet that was heading to the Suez Canal, according to a statement on the Web site. Yemen's Coast Guard and Army were searching for members of the country's armed forces, the state-run SABA NET news agency reported today.
A series of tremors were recorded in the region yesterday, Yemeni Petroleum Minister Khaled Bahah said, according to SABA. The volcano, which was spewing lava and ash, hadn't disrupted shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, Canadian Navy spokesman Ken Allan told CNN.
``It lit the place up,'' Allan, who witnessed the eruption, told CNN.
The volcano, one of several at the southern tip of Yemen, southwest of the Farisan Islands, last erupted in 1883, according to the Web site of the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. It rises from a sea depth of about 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) to form the 3 kilometer-long island.
The Canadian naval spokesman added that the search for survivors would continue until the Yemeni authorities decide to end it.
source: www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aDs7b5invD4A&refer=canada
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