A missile fired from Yemen hit a merchant ship called True-Confidence in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, March 6, and the crew reported at least two dead and six injured, a U.S. official said under cover of anonymity. The missile caused “significant damage” to the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned ship, the official said, and caused the crew to “abandon.”[er] Ship “.
According to the cargo ship's Greek operator quoted by Portal, the ship was hit while it was about fifty nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Aden, whose gulf limits access to the Red Sea. Then it burst into flames and floated away.
There was initially no official information about the health status of the twenty sailors and three armed guards who were on board the cargo ship, the press agency adds, while the extent of the damage caused by the typing remains unclear.
The United Kingdom Maritime Agency (UKMTO) also said it had been informed of an incident 54 nautical miles southwest of Aden, adding that the cargo ship abandoned by the crew was “no longer under command.”
Forces from the anti-Houthi coalition came to the aid of the ship and its crew, the UKMTO said, as the United States launched a mission in the Red Sea to protect the vital global shipping route.
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Increased attacks related to the war in Gaza
According to Portal, the Houthis claimed to have fired missiles at the True Confidence after the ship ignored warnings from the Yemeni navy, according to a spokesman for the Shiite armed movement.
Iran-backed Yemeni rebels have been carrying out increasing attacks on commercial vessels off the coast of that country for several months, claiming to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and against Israel and its allies in the context of the ongoing war since October 7 in the Gaza Strip. However, this is the first deadly attack in this campaign of attacks led by Yemen's Shiite rebellion.
“We will continue to hold them accountable. We call on governments around the world to do the same,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on behalf of the United States.
The Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated cargo ship Rubymar sank on Saturday with its cargo of fertilizer on board in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen after being hit by two missiles fired by Houthi rebels, February 19.
While the Houthis have indicated in the past that they would target ships with ties to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom, maritime sources say all ships could be threatened. Some companies have decided to change the routes of their cargo ships and resort to longer and more expensive journeys.
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