2024-01-27 07:40:00
(CNN) — An oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden is on fire following Yemen’s Houthi militants fired missiles on Friday amid continuing attacks on the key sea route.
The oil tanker Marlin Luanda was hit by a missile, commodities group Trafigura, which operates the vessel, reported on Friday.
In a statement, Trafigura said the ship “was hit by a missile in the Gulf of Aden following transiting the Red Sea,” adding that “onboard firefighting equipment is being deployed to suppress and control the fire caused in a cargo tank on the starboard side.”
Iran-backed militants claimed responsibility for the attack, stating in a statement who fired missiles at the tanker in response to “American-British aggression once morest our country [Yemen]”and in support of the Palestinian people.
Trafigura, which has offices in Britain, said it is monitoring the situation and that military vessels in the region are “underway to provide assistance.”
The UK government has not yet commented on the attack.
A US destroyer in the Gulf of Aden is responding to a distress call from the burning tanker, according to a US official.
US Central Command said the ship had issued a distress call and reported damage following militants fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from an area of Yemen controlled by the Houthis.
The USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, and other coalition ships responded “and are providing assistance,” Central Command said.
At the moment no injuries have been reported, he added.
NASA’s Fire Information Resource Management System (FIRMS) on Friday detected a fire still raging in the middle of the Gulf of Aden, near the last known location of the Marlin Luanda.
Earlier, the USS Carney had shot down a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile that was targeting the US warship, according to US Central Command. There were no injuries as a result of the attack on the USS Carney.
The United States and Britain have been carrying out attacks once morest Houthi targets in Yemen following the Biden administration and its allies warned that the group would bear the consequences of its attacks on the international sea route.
The Houthis have said they will not stop their attacks until the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza ends. Houthi leader Abdul Malek al-Houthi said in a speech Thursday that it is “a great honor and blessing to confront the United States directly.”
The attacks have forced some of the world’s largest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.
CNN previously reported that US intelligence services believe Iran is carefully calibrating its response to Israel’s war in Gaza, allowing and even encouraging its backed groups to undermine Israeli and US interests in the region, though stopping short of carry out activities that trigger a direct confrontation with Iran itself.
In Yemen, a year-long conflict between Houthi forces and the Saudi-backed coalition has plunged the population into a devastating humanitarian crisis marked by famine, economic upheaval and extreme poverty.
Yemenis raise a mock missile while participating in a protest once morest the US-led airstrikes once morest Yemen.
Credit: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa in 2014 and overthrew the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia, triggering a civil war. The conflict escalated into a broader war in 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to push back the Houthis.
The conflict has caused the death of up to 377,000 people, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2021. More than half died from indirect causes associated with the conflict, such as lack of food, water and health care. .
— CNN’s Christian Edwards, Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand and Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.
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