LONDON: The Galaxy Leader commercial ship was \u201cillegally boarded by military personnel via a helicopter\u201d on Nov. 19 and is now in the Hodeida port area in Yemen, the vessel\u2019s owner said on Monday.
\n\u201cAll communications were subsequently lost with the vessel,\u201d Isle of Man registered Galaxy Maritime Ltd, owner of the pure car carrier Galaxy Leader, said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe company, as a shipping concern, will not be commenting further on the political or geopolitical situation.\u201d
\nYemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthis released video footage on Monday showing armed men dropping from a helicopter and seizing a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea.
\nThe United States denounced the ship\u2019s seizure as a breach of international law and demanded the immediate release of the vessels and its crew.
\n\u201cThe Houthi seizure of the motor vessel Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea is a flagrant violation of international law,\u201d US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told a briefing. \u201cWe demand the immediate release of the ship and its crew and we will consult with our allies and UN partners as to appropriate next steps.\u201d
\nThe Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader\u2019s crew is made up of nationals from Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Philippines, Mexico and Romania, Galaxy Maritime said. The vessel is chartered by Japan\u2019s Nippon Yusen.
\n\u201cOwners and managers believe the seizure of this vessel represents a gross violation of freedom of passage for the world fleet and a serious threat to international trade,\u201d Galaxy Maritime said.
\nIt added that the \u201ckey concern at this time is the safety and security of the 25 crew members currently being held by the perpetrators of this criminal act.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON: The Galaxy Leader commercial ship was \u201cillegally boarded by military personnel via a helicopter\u201d on Nov. 19 and is now in the Hodeida port area in Yemen, the vessel\u2019s owner said on Monday. \u201cAll communications were subsequently lost with the vessel,\u201d Isle of Man registered Galaxy Maritime Ltd, owner of the pure car carrier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-369371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n