Crew Bails Into Red Sea After Attack

2025-01-11 14:23:42

A second merchant ship has been attacked by men launching rocket-propelled grenades from small boats in the Red Sea.

Two crew were injured and two others are missing on a Liberia-flagged bulk carrier that was attacked 49 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Monday.

Ambrey said the vessel’s engines had reportedly been disabled. It did not identify the ship.

It said the vessel had been heading north
toward the Suez Canal
when it came under fire by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones. The security guards on board had opened fire in response.

“The vessel’s engines had reportedly been disabled and Ambrey observed that the vessel had started to drift,” the firm said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported the ambush, which saw five rocket-propelled grenades fired from small craft circling the ship.

The attack followed the alleged ‘sinking’ of Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas, which caught fire after being hit by sea drones on Sunday.

The crew abandoned the sinking merchant ship and were rescued by another passing vessel.

Earlier in the day, Iran-aligned Houthis claimed they attacked the ship carrying scrap with gunfire, rockets and explosive-laden remote-controlled boats.

They said it had sunk in their first known attack on the high seas this year.

The UKMTO said in a statement: ‘Vessels in the area should exercise extreme caution whilst transiting the southern Red Sea, as vessel

remains abandoned and unlit’.

No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which comes as tensions remain high in the
Middle East
over the
Israel-Hamas war
.

The UKMTOsaid that an armed security team on the ship had returned fire.

The two attacks and a round of Israeli air strikes early on Monday targeting the rebels raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after
President Donald Trump
’s administration targeted the rebels in a major air strike campaign.

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end
Israel
’s offensive against
Hamas
in the Gaza Strip.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. This has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees one trillion US dollars of goods move through it annually.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the
US
launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.

Pirates from Somalia have also operated in the region, although typically they have sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews.

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