A Greek-owned, flagged oil tanker caught fire and became adrift in the Red Sea after a series of attacks, British and Greek authorities said.
The two small ships were first hit by gunfire as they approached the Sounion about 77 nautical miles (143 kilometers) west of the Yemeni port of Hodeida early on Wednesday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office.
Subsequently, the ship was hit by three unknown projectiles, causing a fire on board and causing the engine to lose power. There were no reports of injuries to the 25 crew members.
No group has yet said it was behind the attack, which Greece’s maritime minister condemned as a flagrant violation of international law.
However, since November, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has repeatedly targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis say their actions are supporting the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They claim (often falsely) that they target only ships with links to Israel, the United States, or the United Kingdom.
They are undeterred by the deployment of Western warships to protect commercial vessels or by U.S. and British air strikes on territory they control in northwestern Yemen. Israel also bombed the port of Hodeidah last month in retaliation for a deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv.
The “Sounion” is a “Suezmax” oil tanker with a length of 274 meters and a width of 50 meters. It was transporting crude oil from the Port of Basra in Iraq when it was attacked.
The ship’s Greek operator, Delta Tankers, said the ship suffered “minor” damage and the crew was assessing the situation before continuing on its voyage.
The British Maritime Trade Organization said that on Wednesday, the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship “SW North Wind I” reported three explosions in nearby waters while the ship was transiting the Gulf of Aden.
It added that the incident occurred 57 nautical miles south of the Yemeni city of Aden, that the crew was safe and that the ship was heading to its next port of call.
In June, the Liberian-flagged Greek cargo ship Tutor sank in the Red Sea after being attacked by Houthi armed forces with a maritime drone, killing one crew member.
