Evacuation plan through Hormuz for stranded ships in Gulf underway, UN agency say

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) – An evacuation plan to enable hundreds of ships with some 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Gulf to sail through the Strait of Hormuz is underway after Iran and the U.S. reached a ceasefire deal, the United Nations’ shipping agency said on Tuesday.

“We have now started contacting the ships to start the evacuation,” a spokesperson with the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said, without providing a timeframe.

The IMO said it had secured “the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations”.

“This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jonathan SaulEditing by Gareth Jones)