The International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that a total of about 115 vessels and 2,500 seafarers have been evacuated from the Strait of Hormuz since Tuesday, June 23.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in an online press conference that the vessels were evacuated over a period of three and a half days, leaving a total of 2,500 seafarers now safely out of the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Nations began its safe-passage program for ships on June 23 using two routes—one via Iranian waters and another via Omani waters with U.S. oversight.
However, following a three-and-a-half-day effort, the IMO suspended further evacuations for the remaining 600 ships and 11,000 seafarers after an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman. The Singapore-flagged container ship Ever Lovely was reportedly struck on its starboard side by a projectile as it attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
A maritime security source reported to Reuters that the vessel was likely targeted by a drone, although it was not yet clear who carried out the strike.
“I have decided to temporarily pause [the evacuation plan’s] implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region,” Dominguez said in a statement.
Dominguez added that the IMO had secured safety guarantees and verified conditions for safe navigation before the evacuation plan began. A separate maritime security report revealed, however, that the Ever Lovely was not operating under the IMO evacuation framework.
The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body set up by Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz, said that vessels transiting outside its own designated route “will not be covered by the guarantee of safe passage,” and that “consequences arising from passage through unauthorized routes shall be the responsibility of the owner, operator, and vessel commander.”
