5 British sailors released by Iran
Source: Agencies |
December 3, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IRAN yesterday released five British sailors who were detained last week when their 60-foot racing yacht drifted accidentally into Iran's Persian Gulf waters and was seized.
The elite Revolutionary Guard, whose navy had stopped the vessel, interrogated the yachtsmen and found that their "illegal entry" into Iranian waters had been a mistake, the official IRNA news agency said.
The release is an overture to London, which has been trying to keep the incident from getting tangled up in the rancor between Tehran and the West over Iran's nuclear issue.
A Foreign Office spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, confirmed the release and said the yachtsmen are being towed to international waters.
A spokeswoman for Sail Bahrain, the group operating the yacht, said the five are to be met by a representative of the company, who will then tow them to Dubai. She said they expected the yacht to be in Dubai late yesterday.
David Young, whose son Oliver is also among the five, said he was "very relieved" by the news. "We thought it would be over quickly. This is what we were hoping for," Young said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there was "certainly no question of any malicious intent on the part of these five young people."
The vessel was on its way from Bahrain to Dubai last Wednesday for the start of its first off-shore race.
The elite Revolutionary Guard, whose navy had stopped the vessel, interrogated the yachtsmen and found that their "illegal entry" into Iranian waters had been a mistake, the official IRNA news agency said.
The release is an overture to London, which has been trying to keep the incident from getting tangled up in the rancor between Tehran and the West over Iran's nuclear issue.
A Foreign Office spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, confirmed the release and said the yachtsmen are being towed to international waters.
A spokeswoman for Sail Bahrain, the group operating the yacht, said the five are to be met by a representative of the company, who will then tow them to Dubai. She said they expected the yacht to be in Dubai late yesterday.
David Young, whose son Oliver is also among the five, said he was "very relieved" by the news. "We thought it would be over quickly. This is what we were hoping for," Young said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there was "certainly no question of any malicious intent on the part of these five young people."
The vessel was on its way from Bahrain to Dubai last Wednesday for the start of its first off-shore race.
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