The media spokesman of the command of the border guards in Madinah region, Colonel Suleiman Al-Mutairi said that at 2:40 am this morning, the command and control room received a communication from the coordination centre of search and rescue operations of the axis of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba that they received a distress signal through the system of distress device from the Saudi ship 'Asir' from a point 130 nautical miles away to the north-west of the city of Yanbu (70 nautical mile away from Amluj to the west) indicating the occurrence of a fire on the ship as well as the presence of three wounded and another person suffering fractures. According to Al-Mutairi a supplementary communication came from the center of coordination indicating that the fire was extinguished and pointing out that coordination with the air base of Civil Defense in Makkah took place and it sent an evacuation aircraft to move the injured accompanied by an officer of the command of border guards of Madinah region. The necessary measures were taken and the hospital of Yanbu was informed to be ready to receive the injured and prepare the plane landing site. Coordination with King Fahd industrial Port in Yanbu took place to send two tugboats to provide assistance and tow the ship.
