As Jabal Al-Tair volcano still eruptsTechnical team conducts air survey on Yemeni Island [Archives:2008/1121/Local News]

HODIEDAH, Jan. 13 ) A team of Yemeni specialists are currently conducting air surveys for 150 Yemeni islands on the Red Sea following continuous volcanic eruptions on Jabal Al-Tair, a tiny island on the Red Sea.

The team is present in the western province of Al-Hodiedah, to watch and follow up the volcano and what may happen as a result.

General Authority for Developing Yemeni Islands (GADYI), a government body, said the surveys are conducted in cooperation with Earthquake Observation Center (EOC). So far, three surveillance and early warning stations have been created in the islands of Hunaish, Zuqar and Kamaran, on the Red Sea.

Head of the GADYI, Yahya Al-Kainai, said Jabal Al-Tair Island's volcano is still experiencing continuous eruption, shaping smoke steams coming from the volcano crater heading toward northwest coast of the island.

Al-Kaina'i added that a photograph team had taken sattalite photos for the volcano's crater from a lower height, considering such photos the first of their kinds since the beginning of spewing volcanic lavas in Jabal Al-Tair.

Additionally, a team from the General Authority for Protecting Environment is assigned to specify the environmental impacts caused by the current eruptions.

The Jabal Al-Tair volcano first erupted on September 30th, killing at least eight Yemeni soldiers on a military base established on the island since Yemen's 1996 conflict with Eritrea over Hanish and Jabal Zuqar.

Jebel Al Tair (Bird Mountain), island is about 3km long, covers an area of 3.9sqkm, and its highest peak is 1,200 meters. It lies about 100km off the nearest Yemeni coast and, according to geologists, is in a volcanically active part of the Red Sea. The last time the island witnessed a strong volcanic eruption was in 1883.
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