Tehran/Muscat: The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) – a body under the United Nations (UN) – has resumed evacuation of ships stuck in the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
The evacuation process of hundreds of commercial vessels and thousands of seafarers on board them had begun after the US and Iran announced a ceasefire in the region.
However, the effort was stalled after a cargo ship was struck by a drone earlier this week.
The IMO had said on Thursday that it had “temporarily paused” its evacuation initiative after a container ship operated was attacked, as reported by The Hindu. The exercise resumed from Friday.
Nearly 115 vessels with around 2,500 seafarers were able to sail through the Strait after the ceasefire came into place, IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said.
He was working “vigilantly” with sever
al parties and having conversations with countries — particularly Oman, the United States, and Iran — “in order to find these guarantees that were provided at the beginning, that vessels will not be targeted”, Dominguez said.
“As soon as I get further confirmations of that, we’re ready to re-initiate the process of evacuation,” he had said after the drone attack, without providing a timeframe.
On Friday, Tehran reasserted its right to control shipping in the critical waterway and warned its Gulf neighbours against siding with Washington.
Dominguez said his main point of contact in Iran was with its maritime authority and foreign ministry.
“I need to actually maintain the positive approach that progress is being made in the whole conflict and at least vessels are also safely sailing through,” he said.
The IMO was investigating “the reasons and motivation” for the ship attack, he said.
Ships moving out through the Strait can daily through Iranian waters in the north or Omani waters in the south. The so-called Traffic Separation Scheme, adopted by the IMO in 1968, established routing lanes through Iranian and Omani waters in the Strait.
Dominguez estimates that there are about 80 mines in this central section and it cannot be used by ships, forcing them to take the northern or southern channels.
“It will take a few weeks before we can evacuate the still just over 500 vessels that need to be evacuated,” the IMO secretary-general said.