Washington (agencies)
A missile launched from Yemen targeted a cargo tanker in the Gulf of Aden yesterday, where crew members announced that two people were killed and six injured, according to a US official.
The missile caused “major damage” to the ship owned by Liberia and flying the Barbados flag, according to the official, who added, “The crew reported at least two deaths, six wounded crew members, and abandoned the ship.”
The British Maritime Security Agency, Ambrey, reported yesterday that it had received a report of an explosion near a cargo ship, 57 nautical miles southwest of Aden in Yemen.
“A nearby ship reported an explosion near the cargo tanker,” Embry said, warning other commercial ships to stay away from it.
A US defense official said that smoke was seen rising from the cargo tanker off the southern coast of Yemen.
The official, who requested that his name not be published, added that a lifeboat was also seen in the waters near the ship, without providing further details.
Prior to that, the British Maritime Trade Operations Authority received a report about the detention of a commercial ship by a group calling itself the “Yemeni Navy,” and demanded that the crew change its course southwest of the city of Aden.
A statement published by the authority on its account on the “X” platform, yesterday, and reported by the “Euro News” network, stated that the detention process lasted approximately half an hour, but the “authority” did not reveal the route that the commercial ship subsequently took.
In addition, the US Army reported earlier yesterday that its forces shot down a missile and three drones launched towards an American destroyer in the Red Sea the day before yesterday.
The army said in a statement: “The forces of the US Central Command (Centcom) shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems that were launched from Houthi-controlled areas towards the destroyer (USS Carney) in the Red Sea.”
He added: “There were no casualties or damage to the ship,” noting that American forces later destroyed three anti-ship missiles and three naval drones in areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Yemen warned yesterday that the wreck of the British ship “Rubimar,” which sank on the second of this month, poses a threat to the environment. It also stressed in a statement that “its danger is not limited to the environmental systems of Yemen and other Red Sea countries, but rather it is a danger to the safety of navigation in this extremely important waterway.”
In addition, she considered that “the attack on the Rubimare and its sinking is another example of the Houthis’ indifference to the lives of naval crews and the lives of Yemenis,” stressing that those attacks, which she described as abhorrent, must stop immediately. Yesterday, Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak stressed the importance of the United Nations and its agencies and organizations working in Yemen adopting more effective and sustainable mechanisms to deal with the environmental disaster resulting from the sinking of the sunken ship, and the importance of responding to the government’s request to form an international emergency unit to deal with this event.
This came during the Prime Minister’s reception, the day before yesterday, in the city of Aden, the Director of the Operations and Advocacy Department at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Edem and Surno, and her accompanying delegation, who is visiting Aden.
The UN official confirmed that they are monitoring the status of the Rubimar ship and are working with the Crisis Cell and the international community to contain the disaster.
Since November 19, the Houthi group has been carrying out attacks with drones and missiles on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which prompted the American and British forces to launch joint strikes on several sites in Yemen belonging to the Houthi group since January 12, in an attempt to deter them and protect maritime navigation.
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