115 vessels, 2,500 seafarers evacuated from Hormuz: IMO chief

A total of about 115 vessels and 2,500 seafarers have been evacuated from the Strait of Hormuz since Tuesday, the head of the UN maritime body said on Friday.

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez gave the update after the IMO on Thursday suspended its efforts to evacuate some 600 ships and 11,000 sailors, following an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

Dominguez told an online press conference that "115 (vessels) have evacuated in the last three and a half days, representing around 2,500 seafarers that have now safely left the Strait of Hormuz" since the UN began its safe-passage programme Tuesday.

Dominguez said that following "consultations with some countries, particularly in the region", he took the decision to pause evacuations of those trapped because of the US-Iran war. Yet vessels continued to use a non-Iranian-approved passage, tracking platforms showed on Friday.

Formal evacuation of crews is being carried out via two routes — one close to the Omani coast and the other near to the Iranian coast.

Neither is the traditional passage established by the IMO in 1968 as part of the Traffic Separation Scheme aimed at reducing collision risks in the Strait of Hormuz.

This is because of mines located in the usual traffic route. In the memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States last week aimed at ending the war, Tehran committed to clearing the mines from the area within 30 days.

Agence France-Presse