A tanker operated on behalf of trading giant Trafigura Group that was carrying a cargo of Russian fuel was struck by a missile as it transited the Red Sea, in the most significant attack yet by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on an oil-carrying vessel.
“Firefighting equipment on board is being deployed to suppress and control the fire caused in one cargo tank on the starboard side,” a Trafigura spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
“We remain in contact with the vessel and are monitoring the situation carefully. Military ships in the region are under way to provide assistance.”
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed the strike on the Marlin Luanda. The vessel is carrying Russian-origin naphtha – a product used to make plastics and petrol – bought below the price cap imposed by the Group of Seven nations, the Trafigura spokesperson also said.
03:21
US-led coalition strikes Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen
US-led coalition strikes Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen
The attack will raise fresh questions about whether oil tankers will continue to transit the Red Sea.
Since joint US and UK air strikes on the Houthis earlier this month, tanker traffic in the region has declined, but some vessels have continued to pass through, including those hauling oil from Russia, for whom the waterway has become increasingly important since its invasion of Ukraine.
Other key oil exporters like Saudi Arabia said this week that they were planning to continue using the route.
The latest incident also suggests that the US and its allies still have not sufficiently degraded the Houthis’ military capabilities two weeks after launching the first of several air strikes on the group’s missiles, radars and other assets across Yemen.
US tipped to press China on Houthi Red Sea attacks in talks in Thailand
US tipped to press China on Houthi Red Sea attacks in talks in Thailand
Last weekend, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said military actions to deter the Houthis and other groups backed by Iran would take time.
“Deterrence is not a light switch,” Finer told ABC. “We are taking out these stockpiles so they will not be able to conduct so many attacks over time. That will take time to play out.”
In its update on the incident, the UK Navy advised ships to transit with caution and said authorities are responding.
The area in question and the southern Red Sea have been the centre of multiple attacks on ships by Houthi militants in recent weeks.
Since mid-November, the Houthis have launched near daily attacks on vessels transiting the waterway, in an act of solidarity with Palestinians amid the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
The conflict has diverted trade flows as some shippers avoid the key waterway.
Earlier on Friday, missiles exploded near a Panama-flagged, India-affiliated ship carrying barrels from Russia, according to Ambrey.
Although a Houthi spokesman told the Russian newspaper Izvestia last week that Russian and Chinese ships sailing through the Red Sea would be safe, Friday’s attack was the third in the vicinity of a vessel that had previously called on a Russian port.