MUMBAI, Oct 23 (Reuters) – All 14 Indian nationals on a yacht involved in an incident off Yemen’s coast are reported safe, the Indian embassy in Yemen said on Friday.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they were rescuing a boat carrying 14 Indians that was attacked off Jabal Zuqar island near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, and blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack.
Saudi authorities did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Thursday.
“Reports suggest that all 14 Indian nationals are safe and located around Hodeidah in Yemen. We will continue to work for ensuring their well being,” the Indian embassy in Yemen said in a post on X, without elaborating.
The embassy earlier said that precise information on the 14 Indians was not available and that they were making attempts to establish the circumstances and facts of the incident.
India is the world’s third-largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 sailors working across global shipping fleets, according to government data.
More than a dozen Indian seafarers have been killed and three are missing in the Gulf and the wider West Asian maritime region since the Middle East conflict began in February.
Clashes between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government have raged since the group pushed towards Bab el-Mandeb, a shipping chokepoint at the Red Sea’s mouth.
India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that it condemned the attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, terming them “unacceptable”.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by YP Rajesh)
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