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.
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 is currently deployed on Operation SEXTANT, Canada's maritime contribution to the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) fleet in support of the NATO Response Force (NRF).
There are five other NATO ships with the Toronto in the area of the volcano.
The Halifax-class patrol frigate departed Halifax on July 20, 2007 for a five-month deployment during which it will conduct operations in the Mediterranean and circumnavigate Africa.
Hard to believe that it was completely unexpected.