site.btaElena Yoncheva Hands Letter from Relatives of Bulgarian Sailors Aboard Galaxy Leader

In Sanaa MEP Elena Yoncheva handed a letter on behalf of the relatives of the Bulgarian sailors from the Galaxy Leader vessel asking for them to be allowed to return to their families. Yoncheva posted the news on her Facebook page with photos from the meeting.

Earlier on Wednesday, she wrote that she was in Yemen in an attempt to meet the Bulgarians from the cargo ship - Lyubomir Chanev and Danail Veselinov. The two, together with the crew of the vessel, have been with the Houthis since November 1o 2023, the MEP said.

"In Yemen, I was met with the utmost respect. I had a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sanaa, Jamal Amer, and his deputy, Abdul Wahed Abu Rass. In my talks with them, I pointed out that Bulgaria had recognized the State of Palestine as early as 1988. A testament to the good relations between the two peoples is the fact that nearly 6.000 Yemeni completed their higher education in Bulgaria. Engineers, doctors, aviation specialists and many others have contributed to the development of the country. These indisputable facts were appreciated by the hosts," Elena Yoncheva later wrote on Faceboook.

"I have handed over to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sanaa a letter on behalf of the relatives of the Bulgarian sailors asking for them to return to their families," the MEP wrote.

Yemen has been in a civil war since the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and a large territory in northern Yemen in 2014, while the internationally recognized government settled in Aden, in the south of the country.

The Houthis have joined the Gaza conflict in support of the Palestinians and Hamas with attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they say are linked to Israel. In November 2023, the cargo ship Galaxy Leader, with a crew of 25 people from several countries, including Bulgarian citizens, was hijacked. The vessel was owned by a British company but had a Japanese operator and was flying the flag of the Bahamas.