Yacht carrying Russians, Egyptians goes missing off Yemen coast

Beatrice Farhat

Apr 25, 2023

A picture taken on February 21, 2022 shows fishing boats off a beach on Yemen's Red Sea coast in the Khokha district of the war-ravaged country's western province of Hodeida. (Photo by Khaled Ziad / AFP) (Photo by KHALED ZIAD/AFP via Getty Images) — A picture taken on February 21, 2022 shows fishing boats off a beach on Yemen's Red Sea coast in the Khokha district of the war-ravaged country's western province of Hodeida. — KHALED ZIAD/AFP via Getty Images

A private yacht carrying three Russians and two Egyptians went missing several days ago near the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea, its owner said on Monday.

The 19-meter (62-foot) vessel, named “30 Minutes,” had reportedly taken off from Port Said in Egypt a week ago and was bound to Djibouti. Owner Dmitriy Chuguevskiy, a Russian based in Dubai, told The Associated Press that he last tracked the vessel’s location close to Farasan Island near Jazan in Saudi Arabia, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, before it went off the grid last week.

The Russian Embassy in Riyadh said in a statement on Sunday that the yacht refueled last Monday in the port of Jazan, but “radio contact was lost” two days later.

According to Chuguevskiy, the yacht made a distress call that it had come under a pirate attack. Saudi authorities reportedly heard the call, but have yet to comment on the incident.