Monday, May 30 2005 17:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Port Blair: A massive eruption of India's only live volcano, with red hot flames shooting out every few seconds at Barren Island, 140 km from Port Blair, was witnessed by five men who landed on its shores.

"It was so hot we knew something was wrong. And then we saw the volcano crater spewing red flames every few seconds ... It was the most amazing sight I've ever seen," team leader and DIG of Coast Guard Commander S P S Basra, who landed on Barren Island on May 28 told sources in Port Blair today (May 30, 2005).

It was 0930 hrs (IST) when the team from India's military and para-military forces disembarked from a Coast Guard ship. They immediately experienced a very hot breeze and found themselves stepping on to fresh black lava.

The fresh volcanic eruptions came after ten years after the last recorded one in 1994.

"I had heard of the last eruptions but had not seen anything like this ever," Basra said recounting his brush with nature's fury while on a routine trip to the uninhabited island.

The team comprising Basra, one army officer and an air force officer from the Andaman and Nicobar Command and two other CG personnel, could not go more than about 50 metres into the island.

Basra said past records revealed that it was the largest ever-volcanic eruption on Barren Island in recent times.

"Earlier, we have taken patrol teams right up to the mouth of the crater. But on that day, it was difficult to go beyond a certain point. We had to return," he said.