The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen said on Monday that they had bombed a British ship in the Gulf of Aden, while maritime security company Ambrey reported an attack on a British-registered ship overnight.
• Read also: Yemen: Houthi rebels claim responsibility for attack on a “British oil tanker”
• Read also: Yemen: Attack on a ship in the Gulf of Aden
The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a statement that the Yemeni rebels targeted “the British ship Rubymar in the Gulf of Aden with naval missiles.”
Ambrey reported the attack on a “belize-flagged, UK-registered bulk tanker operated by Lebanon” in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The ship was heading north from the United Arab Emirates and its final destination was the Bulgarian city of Varna.
Britain's maritime safety agency UKMTO said a ship 35 nautical miles (65 kilometers) from the Yemeni port of Mokha reported a “nearby explosion resulting in damage.”
The UKMTO later confirmed that the crew had evacuated the ship and were safe.
The Houthis claimed that they “ensure that the ship’s crew exits safely.”
On Monday, Embry reported reports that the ship's crew had been “rescued by another commercial vessel.”
The Houthi military spokesman said that the ship was “threatened to sink in the Gulf of Aden” after sustaining “severe damage” during the attack.
But Ambrey said he had noticed a pattern of drifting over the previous days, between February 16 and 18, “consistent with an engine failure,” adding that “the reasons for the ship’s closure were not previously clear.”
The Houthis, who control large areas of Yemen, say they are carrying out the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is waging a bloody war against the Palestinian Hamas movement in response to the unprecedented October 7 Israeli attack on the ground.
These attacks sparked retaliatory strikes by US and British forces in Yemen, the latest of which was on Saturday.
The Houthis also announced that they had shot down an American MQ-9 aircraft, a claim to which Washington has not yet responded.
