Owner of UK ship seized by Iran contacts crew

24 July 2019, 3:15 pm

Edit

The owner of the UK-flagged ship held by Iran says it has made first contact with the crew of 23 since its seizure five days ago in the Strait of Hormuz.

Stena Bulk says in a statement it had direct communication with the crew of the Stena Impero olast night. The ship’s master said “that everyone was safe with good cooperation with the Iranian personnel onboard.”

In this July 21, 2019 photo, an aerial view shows a speedboat of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard moving around the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero which was seized in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday by the Guard, in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. (Morteza Akhoondi/Tasnim News Agency via AP)

The crew are mostly Indian, but also include Filipino, Russian and Latvian nationals. Iranian state TV aired video of the crew onboard the vessel off Iran’s port of Bandar Abbas earlier this week.

Stena Bulk’s CEO Erik Hanell says the company appreciates this as “a first sign that we will soon see more positive progress from the Iranian authorities.”

— AP