Vessel off Yemen catches fire after triple attack: UK agency

DUBAI: Three projectiles hit a merchant vessel off Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeida on Wednesday, causing a fire onboard and leaving the ship without engine power, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said.

The ship initially exchanged fire with two small vessels, one with three to five people onboard while the second carried around 10, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.

The ship was later “struck by two unidentified projectiles before being hit by a third,” the agency, which is run by Britain’s Royal Navy, said.

“There is a fire onboard, and the vessel has lost engine power,” it said, adding that there were no reports of casualties.

“The vessel is drifting and not under command,” UKMTO said.

A spokesperson for the Greek port authority identified the vessel as the Greek-flagged Sounion, an oil products tanker owned by Delta Tankers, a Greek shipping company.

The ship which carried a crew of 25 people, mostly Filipinos, departed from Iraq and was destined for a port near Athens, where many refineries are based, the Greek port authority said.

No injuries have been reported so far, according to the port authority, which said the ship could have been hit either by missiles or drones.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, but it comes as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels keep up a nine-month-old campaign against international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they say is in support of Gaza.

Their campaign of rocket and drone attacks has severely disrupted maritime traffic through the Red Sea, which normally accounts for up to 12 percent of world trade.

The United States and Britain have responded by striking Houthi targets in Yemen since January, but the attacks have done little to deter the rebels.