CAIRO (Reuters) -Three fires have been observed on board a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Friday, one day after it was evacuated by its crew after being attacked by Yemeni Houthi militants.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said on Thursday that they had attacked the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Sounion “belongs to a company that has ties to the Israeli enemy and violated the ban decision of entry to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.
On Friday, UKMTO said in an advisory note that it had received reports of three fires being observed on the vessel, which “appears to be drifting.” Later in the day, the Houthis posted a video on social media that purportedly showed them setting the tanker on fire.
The tanker, which is carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil, now poses an environmental hazard, the EU’s Red Sea naval mission Aspides said on Thursday.
The Sounion was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to be attacked in the Red Sea this month.
The attack led to the loss of engine power, according to UKMTO. The vessel was anchored between Yemen and Eritrea, a maritime security source told Reuters on Thursday.
(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Hatem Maher; Editing by Louise Heavens and Jonathan Oatis)
