The Saudi authorities dealt inhumanely with the sinking ship off Jizan:Minister of Transport
— The ship has been burning for 9 days and the crew offered the Saudis to pay the costs of the firefighting, but they refused
— We called on the United Nations to return shipping lines towards the ports of Hodeidah and Aden instead of the Saudi ports.
The Minister of Transport of the Government of National Salvation, Abdul Wahab Al-Durra, confirmed that the Saudi authorities dealt inhumanely with the accident that occurred to a marine commercial cargo belonging to Yemeni merchants off the coast of Jizan, as it refused to respond to the distress call and left the ship burning for several days until it sank.
This incident is one of the results of diverting shipping lines towards Saudi ports instead of Yemeni ports, the minister further explained, within the framework of the blockade imposed by the coalition of aggression on Yemen.
A merchant ship carrying a variety of goods belonging to Yemeni merchants had recently suffered an unfortunate accident, which led to its ignition and sinking off the coast of Jizan.
In an interview with the Al-Masirah channel, the Minister of Transport confirmed that “the sunken ship kept burning for 9 days and sank without any response from the authorities in Jizan port.”
Al-Durra called on the United Nations to intervene and start a transparent investigation to reach the causes of the accident and the inhuman behavior of the Saudi authorities.
“The shipping company said that the accident started with a fire in the engines that moved to the wheelhouse, and the Saudi maritime authorities were called, but they did not find any response, but rather met them in a state of gloating.”
Activists had circulated video clips of the Saudis addressing the ship’s crew in a gloating tone, saying, “Look at your ship, it is burning!”
The ship was carrying more than 1,850 containers of various goods.
Al-Durra said: The ship’s crew had offered the Saudi Navy to pay the costs of extinguishing the fire, but the Saudi authorities refused to respond.
This incident provoked a wave of indignant reactions towards the Saudi regime, which continues to affirm its hatred against the Yemeni people and have joy seeing their suffering, and its sickly arrogant view of the Yemenis.
The Minister of Transport stressed that this incident is one of the results of diverting shipping lines towards Saudi ports on the Red Sea, instead of Yemeni ports, a measure that came within a series of criminal blockade measures imposed by the US-Saudi aggression coalition on Yemen eight years ago.
Al-Durra said: Sana’a asked the United Nations to return shipping lines towards the ports of Hodeidah and Aden, but it did not respond, pointing out that any ship that wants to reach Yemen has to stop at the ports of Jeddah and Jizan.
Al-Durra explained that compensation for the sunken shipment would be made through the shipping company and insurance companies, expressing his hope that the outstanding problems would be resolved.