Dubai:
A cargo ship caught fire on Thursday after being hit by a missile attack off Yemen’s southern coast, Britain’s maritime agency reported, prompting a U.S.-led naval response.
The British-owned, Palau-flagged ship was en route from Thailand to Egypt, according to maritime security firm Ambrey and ship tracking data.
Islander is the name of the ship, two shipping sources said.
UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the US-led coalition was responding to the incident, which involved the launch of two missiles from the ship about 70 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen.
Since November, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have launched drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis said they acted out of support for the Palestinians in Gaza.
U.S. and British forces began retaliatory attacks on Houthi facilities in January.
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No ships were sunk and no crew members were killed in the Houthi attack, but there are concerns about the fate of the Rubymar cargo ship that was attacked on February 18.
The Houthis said the Ruby was in danger of sinking, but a U.S. defense official said the ship was still afloat as of Thursday.
Such attacks are disrupting a route that accounts for about 12% of global maritime traffic and forcing companies to take longer, more expensive routes around Africa.
“If anything, Houthi attacks on cargo ships around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are intensifying,” Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM wrote in a note on Tuesday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
