Russian pleasure yacht that disappeared in the Red Sea possibly hijacked by pirates

A search operation has been launched for the ’30 Minutes’ pleasure yacht that disappeared off the radar in the Red Sea with a crew of three Russians.

A pleasure boat with three Russian crew members disappeared off the radar while sailing in the Red Sea this Sunday, April 23. The news was reported to the RIA Novosti news agency by Nadezhda Rasina, the wife of the vessel’s captain.

She told them: “They left the port of Jizan Island, Saudi Arabia, from Monday to Tuesday. Then their traces are lost. They were supposed to be in Djibouti on Wednesday, but they did not arrive there”.

“They disappeared in the space between Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Yemen. Eritrea has a military that patrols the coast. If they were detained on the shore, we would know”, she emphasised.

The owner of the yacht ’30 Minutes’ reported an SOS signal being transmitted. According to Rasina, the entire coastline of the Red Sea knows about the loss of the vessel. Eritrea does not have the resources to send helicopters and search boats, she added.

“In Yemen, everything is completely scary in connection with the situation in the country. Saudi Arabia has the resources to search among these countries”, said the captain’s wife. She was clearly hinting at the possible involvement of pirates that are known to operate in these regions, as reported by gazeta.ru.

She later reported that the ship had been attacked. “There was information that the ship was stolen, but there are no details. This information was sent to Saudi Arabia, and we learned from them”, Rasina explained. According to her, Riyadh is helping Russia to search for the yacht.

The yacht reportedly sailed along the route Port Said – Suez – Hurghada – Jeddah – Jizan – Djibouti, according to the wife. “On April 17, they left the port of Jizan, where the ship had refuelled. On the same day, the boat anchored in the area of ​​Rumain Island and subsequently disappeared from the radar.

As reported to TASS by Damir Saydyashev, the head of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, there are three Russians on board: Roman Kokashinsky, Daniil Vasilyev, and Maria Shevtsova”.

He pointed out that neither the Russian embassy nor the Saudi authorities have yet found evidence that the ship could have been hijacked by pirates.

Saydyashev informed the news agency that the Russian embassy is in contact with the coast guard of Saudi Arabia. The Jeddah search and rescue coordination centre has used all available ships to search for the missing yacht he said.

It has so far proved impossible to determine the location of the vessel because it has disabled the transponders of the automatic identification system, Saidyashev added.