The lives of the two Bulgarian sailors from the hijacked ship are not in direct danger. Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Milen Keremedchiev commented on this in a special interview for Iskra.bg.
„The Houthis themselves announced that if there were no Israeli citizens on board and if there were no Jewish citizens on board, they would treat them as guests rather than as prisoners. So I think the crew will stay on board the ship. It will fulfill his daily maintenance commitments. There will be food and water – sustenance. The crew members will not have the fate of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas and held hostage in obscure places underground – in tunnels and constantly being moved. So at the moment, in my opinion, the lives of our compatriots are not in real danger,“, he pointed out.
According to the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, negotiations on the fate of the crew and the ship owned by Israeli citizen Abraham Ungar will go through Iran, because they are the real guarantor of this kidnapping. Then he added:
„The Houthis, unlike Hamas, which is negotiating with Israel with the help of Qatar and the US, is cut off from the world. For eight years, they have been fighting a civil war in Yemen with the forces that are supported by Saudi Arabia and other countries that are members of the Persian Gulf. Communication with them is extremely difficult. In addition, the main sponsor of the Houthis, both in information and in weapons and money, is Iran.“
Keremedchiev emphasized that the Houthis use weapons and ammunition very actively and in recent months have fired them at Israel as well:
„So Iran holds the key to negotiations with the Houthis in my opinion!“
The expert also commented that if there were no Israeli citizens or those of Jewish origin on board the ship, they would not be captured, as Hamas is doing, and dragged into tunnels and hidden from view; rather, they would remain on the ship and not be allowed to leave it, nor would the ship itself be allowed to leave port in Yemen. Therefore, it is more likely that the hostages will be released.
In this case, there is also a political context to the hijacking, but it is difficult to say what demands can be made in this direction. Rather, according to Keremedchiev, the goal is to confiscate the ship because it is owned by an Israeli shipowner.
„It is very likely that he will be held there indefinitely.“ So the probability of the crew being released and allowed to go home, but the ship being detained, is very high. In fact, this is the political message. A few days ago, the Houthis announced that they would capture and attack all ships owned by Israeli companies or carrying Israeli and Jewish citizens. So by hijacking the ship the political gesture was made.“
However, the crew will be released sooner or later with the intervention of Iran in the negotiation process, Milen Keremedichiev also pointed out to Iskra.bg.
