Caspian Marine Services: No release for three Azerbaijani ships detained in Eritrea yet

Three Azerbaijani vessels detained in Eritrea on November 7, 2024 have not been released yet.

The regular communication is being maintained with the crew members aboard the Azerbaijani vessels, Caliber.Az reports, citing the message of Caspian Marine Services B.V. for Trend.

"The crew members are being provided with food and are in contact with their families," the company stated.

In response to Trend’s inquiry, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizada said that negotiations with the relevant parties regarding the detained Azerbaijani vessels are ongoing.

"There is no new information on this matter at the moment," he added.

On November 7, 2024, the vessels CMS Pəhləvan, CMS İgid, and CMS-3, operated by the Azerbaijani branch of Caspian Marine Services B.V. and flying the Azerbaijani state flag, were forced to enter the territorial waters of the State of Eritrea while en route from the Suez Canal to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) due to worsening weather conditions. 

The vessels were subsequently detained by the relevant Eritrean authorities, which justified the action by claiming an unauthorized entry into its territorial waters. Some 18 crew members aboard ships are citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Legal arguments asserting that the ships' entry into Eritrean waters did not violate international law have been communicated to Eritrean officials through Azerbaijan’s embassies in Ethiopia and Russia. 

Meetings have taken place with the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Eritrean embassies in Türkiye and Moscow. Efforts to resolve the issue and secure the release of the ships and their crew are ongoing. 

On January 8, Azerbaijan has sent a diplomatic note to Eritrea regarding the seizure of three ships and their crews, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said. The ministry highlighted that legal grounds, asserting that the vessels' entry into Eritrean territorial waters did not violate international law, were communicated to the Eritrean authorities through Azerbaijan’s embassies in Ethiopia and Russia, along with the necessary diplomatic notes for appropriate action.

By Naila Huseynova