A yacht carrying three Russian nationals is missing in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia and war-hit Yemen, the Russian embassy in Riyadh said on Monday.
The Djibouti-bound vessel named “30 Minutes” refuelled on April 17 in the southern Saudi port of Jazan, but “radio contact was lost” two days later, the embassy said in a statement.
The Red Sea is a major shipping lane that has witnessed a series of attacks on vessels by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have been fighting a war against a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2015.
There was no immediate comment from the Iran-backed Huthis on the missing yacht, and the coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The yacht had set off from Port Said in Egypt and stopped in multiple locations including the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah before reaching Jazan, the Russian embassy’s statement said.
“According to the local competent authorities, at the moment, all free vessels located in the area of the alleged location of the yacht are involved in the search,” it said.
“In cooperation with Saudi authorities, we continue to take all necessary steps to clarify the fate of the missing vessel, as well as to provide prompt assistance to the Russian citizens on board.”
A truce announced roughly a year ago has significantly reduced active hostilities within Yemen, and is still largely respected even though it officially expired in October.
A surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, brokered by China and announced in March, has fuelled hopes for a cessation of fighting that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and triggered what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, a Saudi delegation held talks in Yemen’s capital Sanaa aimed at establishing a more durable ceasefire.
The discussions ended without a breakthrough or a new truce agreement, but the two sides have vowed to meet again.
