Yemen's Houthi rebels have released two South Korean vessels and one Saudi vessel that they have recently captured in the Red Sea area, as well as their crews, comprising a total of 16 people, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday
SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Yemen's Houthi rebels have released two South Korean vessels and one Saudi vessel that they have recently captured in the Red Sea area, as well as their crews, comprising a total of 16 people, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"The vessels (three vessels: two South Korean vessels and one Saudi vessel) ... and the crews (comprising 16 people, including two South Korean sailors) were released on November 19 at around 18:40 [local time, 15:40 GMT] or just 45 hours after the incident occurred. This is a result of close cooperation with the United States and other friendly nations, as well as regional countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates for the sake of urgent settlement of the situation," the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The released vessels should leave for the Saudi port of Jizan at around 6 a.m. local time and arrive there in two days.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry has ordered enhancing security measures at vessels with South Korean crews after the incident.
The Houthi authorities said earlier this week that they had detained a ship, carrying a drilling rig belonging to South Korea, thus confirming the claims of the Saudi-led coalition. They pledged to release the vessel if it was confirmed to be South Korean, but not belonging to Saudi Arabia that has been conducting attacks against the Houthis since 2015 at the request of the central Yemeni government.
