Saudi-led Arab coalition evacuates Iranian ship’s crew member south of Red Sea

The Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen evacuated a crew member from an Iranian ship in the northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah port for medical reasons, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Colonel Turki Al-Malki, the official spokesperson for the coalition, said they received a distress call to evacuate a crew member of the Iranian ship ‘Safiz’.

The evacuation was carried out by one of the naval alliance ships close to the Iranian ship. The first medical assistance was provided to the injured man – who was found in a serious condition – by the medical team of the coalition.

The man was then transported to a military hospital in Jazan in Saudi Arabia, where he is currently being treated, the report added.

Al-Malki said Saudi Arabia had also received an official request from the Iranian ambassador at Iran’s Permanent delegation to the United Nations about the case.

He added that the coalition carried out the evacuation “despite the threat posed by the suspicious ship to the south of the Red Sea, its hostile actions against the coalition forces and against the interests of the Yemeni people, and its continuing threat to maritime transport and world trade”, the SPA reported.