Seoul: Sixteen crew members, including two South Koreans, who were held when their three vessels were seized by Yemen’s Iran-backed Al Houthi militia at the weekend have been freed, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.
“The vessels and crew members that were seized and detained in Yemen have all been released,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ships include two South Korean vessels and one Saudi-flagged tug, it added.
On Tuesday, Al Houthis acknowledged they had seized three ships in the Red Sea a few miles off Uqban island, west of the rebel-held capital Sana’a.
The incident came amid a lull in Al Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia as one Riyadh official said the kingdom had established an “open channel” with the militia in a bid to end the four-year conflict.
