Ship attacked and caught fire near Yemen

Three projectiles hit a merchant ship near Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeidah on Wednesday, causing a fire on board and losing power to the vessel’s engine, Britain’s maritime safety agency said.

Authorities in Athens identified the vessel as the Greek-flagged Sounion tanker, and Greek Maritime Minister Christos Stylianides condemned the vessel as a “serious threat” to international shipping.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is run by the Royal Navy, said the tanker was “first hit by two unidentified flying objects and then by a third.”

The agency said its crew had earlier exchanged fire with two small boats, one carrying three to five people and the second with about 10 people.

The British Ship Trade Bureau said there was “a fire on board and the engine lost power”, adding that the “vessel was drifting out of control”.

Both the British Ship Trading Board and the Greek Ports Authority said they had no reports of casualties.

A port authority spokesman said the Sounion was a tanker owned by Greek shipping company Delta Tankers and had 25 crew members on board, most of them Filipinos.

The Greek Ports Authority said the ship had sailed from Iraq and was destined for a port near Athens that is home to many oil refineries.

Reports said the ship may have been attacked by a missile or drone.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but it comes amid nine months of ongoing attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which they say is in support of Gaza.

Stylianides “condemned the attack as a flagrant violation of international law and a serious threat to the safety of international shipping” in a statement.

“Such actions endanger the lives of seafarers and disrupt the free flow of cargo along vital sea routes,” the minister added.

In a separate incident south of the Yemeni port city of Aden on Wednesday, another ship suffered three explosions in close waters, the UK-based ship trade group said.

The crew is safe and the vessel is heading to its next port of call, the agency added.

Houthi rocket and drone attacks have severely disrupted maritime traffic in the Red Sea, which normally accounts for 12% of world trade.

Currently, many commercial ships crossing the Red Sea are equipped with security teams.

The United States and Britain have responded to Houthi attacks with strikes on targets inside Yemen since January, but this has done little to stop the rebels.