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Crew of lost vessel, the 30 Minutes, break silence, get in touch with kin

When there was no radio contact with the vessel for two days, the yacht’s owner decided to send out an SOS call and declare the boat to be in distress in Saudi Arabian waters, according to its last known coordinates

ST. PETERSBURG, April 27. /TASS/. Crewmembers of the 30 Minutes, a vessel lost at sea, have gotten in touch with their relatives, Nadezhda Rasina, wife of the boat’s captain, told TASS.

"They’ve found our guys! They were attacked by armed individuals with a machine gun in Yemeni waters but managed to escape. Several bullets hit their boat but they managed to find refuge in Eritrean waters. The Eritrean authorities conducted an investigation and they [the crew] have only just now gotten in touch and so we know everything is fine," she said.

On April 17, the 30 Minutes pleasure craft sailed from Jizan, Saudi Arabia, headed for the port of Djibouti. There was a crew of three Russian nationals and one Egyptian national on board. The yacht did not initiate radio contact after the last communication on the night of April 18 and the its ship tracking system was disconnected.

When there was no radio contact with the vessel for two days, the yacht’s owner decided to send out an SOS call and declare the boat to be in distress in Saudi Arabian waters, according to its last known coordinates.

The Russian embassy in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabian coast guard, international organizations dealing with rescue operations on water and combatting piracy, the armed forces of those countries with bases in the region and the diplomats of all countries adjacent to the search zone were notified of the incident.