The ship sank four nautical miles off Gabrik district, Hormozgan province (Representational)
Tehran:
Iranian Coast Guard rescued 11 Indian sailors whose ship sank due to bad weather en route to Oman, state media reported on Wednesday.
Ali Mehrani, the acting governor of Zask County (South), was quoted as saying by the state: “The boat – which was headed for the port of Sohar in Oman yesterday – hit Iranian waters due to storms, bad weather conditions and technical problems. ” Broadcaster IRIB.
Mehrani said the vessel was transporting sugar and sank four nautical miles from Gebrik district in southern Hormozgan province.
“The general condition of the crew is good”, he said.
Bad weather has affected not only southern Iran but also Arab countries in the Gulf in recent days, with several weather warnings issued.
The rainy weather system is expected to continue in Iran until Friday, causing flash floods in southern provinces such as Fars, Hormozgan, Kerman and Sistan-Balochistan (southeast).
Ismail Najjar, the head of Iran’s crisis management organization, said the death toll from the floods had risen to nine.
Najjar told ISNA news agency on Wednesday that five people died in Fars province, and two each in Kerman and Sistan-Balochistan.
Local rescue services had reported eight deaths on Tuesday.
President Ibrahim Raisi promised on Wednesday that the government would do its best to help people in the affected areas.
“It is necessary to rectify the condition of the people immediately after the initial relief operation so that they do not suffer,” state media quoted him as saying.
On his instructions, several officials, including Vice President Mohd Mokhbar and Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mahrabian, visited the flood-affected areas.
State TV said Mahrabian told a crisis management meeting in Sistan-Baluchistan that “there is a national determination to address the problems of the flood-affected regions”.
Broadly arid, Iran has experienced repeated droughts over the past decade, but also regular floods.
In 2019, heavy flooding in the south of the country killed at least 76 people and caused damage estimated at more than $2 billion.
Scientists say climate change exacerbates droughts, and their intensity and frequency threaten food security.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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