UN agency working to restart Hormuz evacuations after ship attack
By Jonathan Saul
LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) – The United Nations is working with countries to restart the evacuation of hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.
The UN International Maritime Organization said on Thursday it was “temporarily pausing” an evacuation attempt after a container ship operated by Taiwan’s Evergreen was attacked.
About 115 ships and about 2,500 sailors were able to pass through the strait before evacuations were halted, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said at a virtual press conference.
Dominguez said he was working “carefully” with various parties and was in talks with countries, particularly Oman, the United States and Iran, “to find the guarantees initially provided that the ships would not be targeted.”
“We are ready to restart the evacuation process as soon as we get further confirmation of this,” he said, but added that he could not give a time frame for the restart.
IMO CHIEF SAID EVACUATIONS WILL TAKE WEEKS TO COMPLETE
Tehran reasserted its right to control shipping in the critical waterway on Friday and warned its Gulf neighbors against siding with Washington.
Dominguez said the main point of contact in Iran is the maritime authority and the foreign ministry.
“I really need to maintain the positive attitude that progress is being made in the entire conflict and that at least the ships are also passing safely,” he said.
He added that the IMO was investigating the “causes and motivation” of the ship attack.
The evacuation plan provided for two channels to exit the strait, either through Iranian waters to the north or Omani waters to the south.
The Traffic Separation Plan adopted by IMO in 1968 established diversion lanes in the strait along Iranian and Omani waters. However, this central section is currently unusable due to the presence of approximately 80 explosive mines, according to Dominguez’s estimate.
“It will be several weeks before we can evacuate the more than 500 ships that still need to be evacuated,” he said.
“Of course, the faster we can resume operations, the faster we can start increasing the numbers until we complete the evacuation.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Joe Bavier)
