CAIRO (Reuters) – Three fires flared on a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Friday, a day after rescuers evacuated the crew following an attack by Yemeni Houthi militants.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said on Thursday they had attacked the Sounion oil tanker as part of their 10-month campaign against commercial shipping to support the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Houthis damaged the tanker for the first time on Wednesday with repeated attacks that caused a fire and loss of engine power. A European warship later rescued her 25 crew. The unmanned ship was anchored between Yemen and Eritrea, a maritime security source told Reuters on Thursday.
On Friday, UKMTO said in an advisory report that it had received reports of three fires on the ship, which “appears to be floating”. Later in the day, the Houthis posted a video on social media showing them setting fire to the tanker.
The damaged tanker, which carries 150,000 tonnes, poses a risk to the environment, the EU’s Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea said.
“A potential spill could have disastrous consequences for the marine environment in the region,” the Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority said in a post on social media site X on Friday.
The largest recorded spill from ships occurred in 1979, when about 287,000 tons of oil escaped from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another oil vessel during a storm in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.
The Sounion was the third ship of the Athens-based Delta Tankers to be attacked by Houthi forces this month.
The Houthis said they attacked the tanker in part because Delta Tankers had violated the ban on “access to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised address.
“Delta Tankers is doing everything it can to move the ship (and the cargo). For security reasons, we cannot comment further,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
