Russian Yacht “30 Minutes” Disappears in Red Sea, Captain’s Wife Claims Hijacking by Pirates

A yacht with three Russian citizens disappeared earlier this week in the Red Sea. Now the wife of the captain on board the yacht claims that the ship was hijacked by pirates.

This is reported by a number of Russian media on Sunday, including Slow and RBK.

It was the night of Tuesday this week that the yacht, which goes by the name “30 minutes”, left port in Saudi Arabia. The yacht was scheduled to reach port in Djibouti on Wednesday, but the ship never arrived

– Never showed up

On board the yacht were three Russian citizens: the captain of the ship, a sailor and the sailor’s wife.

– They should have reached the port on Wednesday afternoon, but they never arrived, and have not made contact, says the captain’s wife, Nadezjda Rasina, to the online newspaper Lenta.

In recent days, his wife Rasina has contacted the authorities in Saudi Arabia and Eritrea, to ask for help in searching for the yacht.

– Saudi Arabia has controlled its waters, and says the ship is not there. But we already know that. The boat is probably somewhere between Yemen and Eritrea, the wife told Lenta earlier on Sunday.

– Searching for the yacht

The case was widely reported in the Russian media earlier on Sunday, and eventually the Russian embassy in Saudi Arabia got involved.

– All available Saudi Arabian ships are now searching for the yacht, says Andrej Brekhovskikh, secretary at the Russian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, according to not completed Izvestia.

In a later interview with the Russian online newspaper RBK claims Nadezjda Rasina, the captain’s wife, that she has received information that the ship was hijacked.

– We have received information that the ship was hijacked, but we have no detailed information. This information came to Saudi Arabia, and we heard it from them, she says to RBK.

Sailed from the Mediterranean

Publicly, the Russian embassy has come out and said that they have no evidence to say that the yacht has been hijacked by pirates.

It is unknown who owns the yacht, but that person was not on board the ship when it disappeared.

Before the ship docked in Saudi Arabia, it had sailed from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

The Red Sea separates the African continent and the Arabian Peninsula from each other.