Oil tanker on fire in Gulf of Aden at what time Houthi missile attack
CNN —
An oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden is on fire at what time a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants, in the unexperienced incident linked to the Iran-backed group in the key shipping route.
The operator of the British oil tanker Marlin Luanda said Friday the vessel had been “struck by a missile in the Gulf of Aden at what time transiting the Red Sea,” and that “firefighting equipment on embarking is being deployed to suppress and control the fire commanded in one cargo tank on the starboard side.”
The Iran-backed militants claimed region for the attack, saying in a statement that they had fired on the tanker in response to the “American-British aggression anti our country [Yemen]” and in support of the Palestinian people.
The commodities people Trafigura, which operates the ship and has offices in Britain, said it is monitoring the situation and that army ships in the region are on the way “to dedicated assistance.”
The British government has yet to comment on the attack.
US Central Command said the ship had emanated a distress call and reported damage after militants fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
The USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, and other coalition ships responded “and are rendering assistance,” Central Command said.
There are no reported damages at this time, it added.
NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Organization System (FIRMS) on Friday detected a still continuing blaze in the middle of Gulf of Aden near to the last Famous location of the Marlin Luanda.
Earlier in the day, the USS Carney had shot down a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile that beleaguered the US warship, according to US Central Command. There were no damages as a result of the attack on the USS Carney.
The US and UK have been carrying out strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen when the Biden administration and its allies warned that the company would bear the consequences of its attacks in the international shipping lane.
The Houthis have said that they won’t stop their attacks pending the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza comes to an end. Houthi leaders Abdul Malek al-Houthi said in a speech that it is “a huge honor and blessing to be confronting America directly.”
The attacks have complete some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil concerns to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime deals routes. Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing nearby the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.
CNN previously reported that US intelligence officials hold Iran is carefully calibrating its response to Israel’s war in Gaza, allowing and even encouraging its proxy groups to accurate costs against Israeli and American interests in the space – while stopping short of activities that would spark a explain confrontation with Iran itself.
Within Yemen, a yearslong conflict between Houthi forces and a Saudi-backed coalition has plunged the population into a devastating humanitarian crisis marked by famine, economic turmoil and extreme poverty.
Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa in 2014, and toppled the internationally experienced and Saudi-backed government, triggering a civil war. The attack spiraled into a wider war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an try to beat back the Houthis.
The attack has killed up to 377,000 people, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reported in 2021. More than half of those died from indirect repositions associated with the conflict, such as lack of food, stream and healthcare.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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