3 of 3 events · 1999 – 2009
Sovereign state situated on an archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Africa
30 April 1999
The 1999 Comorian coup d'état was a two-day long bloodless military takeover in the Comoros led by Colonel Azali Assoumani from April 29 to April 30, resulting in the overthrow of interim president Tadjidine Ben Said Massonde. The coup was ostensibly carried out to restore order and prevent further attacks on Anjouanese residents in Grande Comore amid the country's secession crisis involving the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli.
26 December 2004
On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a Mw 9.2–9.3 earthquake struck with its epicenter off the west coast of Aceh, in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by a rupture along the fault boundary between the Burma plate and the Indian plate, and reached a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX in some areas.
30 June 2009
Yemenia Flight 626 was a scheduled flight on an Airbus A310 twin-engine jet airliner operated by Yemenia that was flying a scheduled international service, from Sanaa in Yemen to Moroni in Comoros, when it crashed on 30 June 2009 at around 1:50 am local time (10:50 pm on 29 June UTC) while on approach to Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew on board. The sole survivor, 12-year-old girl Bahia Bakari, was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean.