Overview
- Al‑Qaqa Ibn Antar, a roughly 30‑year‑old adventurer known as the 'Spider‑Man of Yemen,' fell while climbing the inner wall of the Haradhat Damt crater without ropes or harnesses and was confirmed dead after rescuers retrieved his body.
- Civil Defense teams posted a short video showing the moment he fell and dispatched specialist rescue and diving units that conducted a complex, multi‑hour operation to locate his body about 30 metres below the lake surface.
- The crater at Haradhat Damt is roughly 120 metres deep with steep rocky walls and a hot, sulphurous lake at its base, conditions that made access and recovery difficult and lengthened the rescue effort.
- Short clips of the fall circulated widely on social media, prompting an outpouring of tributes and renewed official warnings urging climbers to use ropes, harnesses and other protective gear to avoid similar tragedies.
- Local reporting noted that Antar built a large online following by performing unroped stunts and that poverty and limited local safety and rescue infrastructure helped drive his risky work, a combination that could increase calls for better protections and support for vulnerable content creators.