A French destroyer has rescued 29 mariners from an oil tanker that came under repeated attack in the Red Sea, officials said on Thursday.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels are suspected to have carried out the assault on the Sounion. The attack, the most serious in the Red Sea in weeks, comes during a months-long campaign by Houthis targeting ships over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that has disrupted trade routes.
The Sounion is now at anchor in the Red Sea and no longer drifting, the European Union’s Operation Aspides said. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who have been taken to nearby Djibouti, the EU mission in the Red Sea said.
“Carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, the MV Sounion now represents a navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned. “It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.”
Military officials did not name the French destroyer involved in the rescue.
The French military separately released an image of the Sounion, showing the blaze on board had been extinguished. It also published an image of its fire targeting the drone boat as well.
In the attack on Wednesday, men on small boats first opened fire with small arms about 90 miles west of the rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said.
Four projectiles also hit the ship, it added.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks, though it can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge their assaults. However, they did acknowledge US air strikes in Hodeida that the American military’s Central Command said destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile and radar system.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the United States or the UK to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the US military told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. Early on Thursday, the US military’s Central Command said the Lincoln had reached the Middle East’s waters, without elaborating.
America has also ordered the USS Georgia-guided missile submarine into the Middle East, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group was in the Gulf of Oman.
Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region and the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea.
