A ship attacked off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday was left adrift with a fire on board after being hit by a fourth shell, Britain’s maritime safety agency UKMTO said.
An unidentified merchant ship was previously hit by three shells in the Red Sea.
“The commander reported a new attack by an unknown projectile. A fire broke out on board, the ship’s engine power was cut off. The ship is drifting and has no direction,” the UKMTO said in an updated report on the incident.
The captain also reported that a small vessel was “behaving suspiciously in the vicinity,” he added.
According to the agency, there are no reports of casualties yet, although the fate of the crew is unknown.
UKMTO said the attack took place 77 nautical miles (about 142 kilometres) west of Al Hodeidah.
It is one of Yemen’s main ports, from where Shiite Houthi rebels have attacked ships linked to Israel.
The attack was not immediately reported.
According to the ship’s commander, whose identity is unknown, two small boats began approaching the ship at night.
“There were between three and five people on board the first vessel and about 10 on board the second,” UKMTO reported, citing the Spanish news agency EFE.
He said two small vessels targeted the merchant vessel, “resulting in a brief exchange of small arms fire.”
After the first incident with the ships, the ship was hit by three shells and then attacked again.
The incident comes after more than a week without any action by Tehran-backed rebels against ships in the Red and Arabian Seas.
Houthi rebels have been attacking Israeli-linked ships since November last year, protecting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and aiming to cause economic damage to Israel.
Attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, key areas of global trade, have sent insurance costs soaring and forced many companies to take a much longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
The United States, Israel’s biggest ally, created a multinational force in December to protect shipping in the strategic area and launched its first attacks in Yemen in January with help from the United Kingdom.
The Houthis are part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” – a coalition led by Iran that also includes, among other organisations, the Palestinian extremist group Hamas and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
The ongoing war, which has killed more than 40,000 people, was triggered by a Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, followed by an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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