UN starts evacuation of 11,000 seafarers stranded in Strait of Hormuz after ceasefire

LONDON – An evacuation plan is underway to allow hundreds of ships with nearly 11,000 sailors stranded in the Gulf to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran and the United States reached a ceasefire agreement, the United Nations maritime agency said on Tuesday.

“We have started contacting ships to initiate evacuations,” a spokesman for the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) said, without giving a timeframe.

IMO said it provides the necessary safety guarantees and verified conditions for safe navigation.

“This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement. he said.

Oman’s defense ministry also said in an advisory that the evacuation process under the IMO plan, which has been discussed for months, will be phased.

“Given the increased risk of collision in the current environment, ship traffic needs to be evacuated in a gradual and controlled manner,” the statement said.
The Omani ministry said that “the so-called Traffic Separation Plan is currently unsafe for use” and that two temporary routes to the north and south of the plan could be used for evacuation.

The plan, adopted by IMO in 1968, created route strips along the Iranian and Omani waters in the strait.

Floating mines are among the biggest risks in the waters around Hormuz.