DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after taking on water for days, officials said Saturday. It was the first ship to be completely destroyed as part of Israel's 2010 campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The sinking of the Rubymar, which was carrying a cargo of fertilizer and previously spilled fuel, could cause ecological damage to the Red Sea and its coral reefs.
Sustained Houthi attacks have already disrupted traffic on the crucial waterway for transporting cargo and energy from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. Many ships have already deviated from the route.
The sinking could trigger more detours and higher insurance premiums for ships in the waterway – potentially boosting global inflation and affecting aid deliveries to the region.
The Belize-flagged Rubymar drifted north after it was struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on February 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden .
Yemen's internationally recognized government and a regional military official confirmed that the ship had sunk. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because permission was not granted to speak to journalists about the incident.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, which monitors Middle East waterways, separately confirmed the Rubymar's sinking on Saturday afternoon.
US military Central Command said early Sunday that the Rubymar sank at 2:15 a.m. local time on Saturday. It released an image of the ship lying on its side as it sank.
“The approximately 21,000 tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the ship was carrying poses an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” it said in a statement. “If the ship sinks, there is also a risk of subterranean impact to other ships traveling the waterway’s busy shipping lanes.”
The Beirut-based Rubymar manager did not respond to a request for comment.
Yemen's government-in-exile, backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, said the Rubymar sank as stormy weather prevailed over the Red Sea. The ship was abandoned for twelve days after the attack, but there were plans to tow the ship to a safe port.
The Iran-backed Houthis had falsely claimed that the ship sank almost immediately after the initial attack. Late Saturday, a Houthi leader tried to blame British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for Rubymar.
“You have the opportunity to save the ship M/V Rubymar by guaranteeing that the aid trucks agreed at the time would enter Gaza,” Mohammed al-Houthi wrote in an online message.
Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, the prime minister of Yemen's internationally recognized government, called the ship's sinking “an unprecedented environmental disaster.”
“It is a new catastrophe for our country and our people,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Every day we pay for the adventures of the Houthi militia, which were not stopped by plunging Yemen into coup catastrophe and war.”
Greenpeace also expressed concerns about the ship's sinking.
“Without immediate action, this situation could escalate into a major environmental crisis,” said Julien Jreissati, program director at Greenpeace MENA.
“In addition to further leaks of fuel oil from the engines, the ship's sinking could breach the hull even further, allowing water to come into contact with the thousands of tons of fertilizer that could then enter the Red Sea, disrupting the balance of marine ecosystems and triggering cascading effects throughout food web.”
The Houthis have held Yemen's capital Sanaa since 2014 and are driving out the government. The rebels have been fighting a stalled war against a Saudi-led coalition since 2015.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press showed smaller boats alongside the Rubymar on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear which ships were involved. The images showed the Rubymar's stern sinking into the Red Sea but still floating, mirroring previous video footage of the ship.
Private security firm Ambrey reported separately on Friday about a mysterious incident involving the Rubymar.
“Several Yemenis were reportedly injured in a security incident on Friday,” Ambrey said. It did not elaborate on what the incident was about, and none of the parties involved in Yemen's years-long war claimed there had been a new attack on the ship.
A satellite image taken by Maxar Technologies on Friday showed new blast damage to the Rubymar that had not been seen before and there were no other ships nearby. Additional satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Saturday of the area where the Rubymar had been in recent days no longer showed the ship.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters as part of the Israel-Hamas war. Those ships included at least one carrying cargo for Iran, the Houthis' main benefactor, and an aid ship that later sailed to Houthi-controlled areas.
Despite more than a month of US-led airstrikes, the Houthi rebels remain able to launch significant attacks. These include the attack on the Rubymar and the shooting down of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel ends its combat operations in Gaza, which have angered the entire Arab world and led to the Houthis gaining international recognition.
The attacks have also disrupted aid deliveries to both Yemen and Sudan, where war has been raging for months. In recent days, the International Rescue Committee announced that it had suspended its aid deliveries across the Red Sea to Port Sudan due to long delays and dramatically increased costs.
However, there has been a slowdown in attacks in recent days. The reason for this remains unclear. Four to eight U.S. and allied warships are currently patrolling the Red Sea daily, according to Maj. Pete Nguyen, a Defense Department spokesman.
On Saturday, Italy's Defense Ministry said one of its ships, the destroyer Caio Duilio, shot down a suspected Houthi drone in self-defense that appeared to be flying toward the ship.
“The Houthis' terrorist attacks constitute a serious violation of international law and an attack on the security of maritime transport on which our economy depends,” the ministry said.
___
Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.