The British bulk carrier was hit by multiple missiles on February 18, causing an oil spill in the Red Sea.
The cargo ship Rubymar, abandoned in the southern Red Sea last month after it was attacked by Houthi rebels, has sunk, according to Yemen's internationally recognized government.
“The MS Rubymar sank last night, coinciding with weather conditions and strong winds at sea,” a Yemeni government crisis cell in charge of the case said in a statement on Saturday.
A military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because permission was not granted to speak to journalists confirmed the incident. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO), which monitors Middle East waterways, also confirmed the Rubymar's sinking, AP reported.
The Rubymar, a Belize-flagged British cargo ship carrying flammable fertilizer, was hit by missiles on February 18 as it sailed through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The crew then abandoned ship and evacuated to safety.
Yemen's Houthis – who say they attacked ships linked to Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom to pressure them to end Israel's war on Gaza – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Rubymar's sinking is the first ship loss since the Iran-backed Houthis began targeting commercial shipping in November.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said the group blamed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his government for the ship's sinking because they supported the “genocide” and “siege” in Gaza.
“Sunak has a chance to recover the Rubymar by allowing aid trucks into the Gaza Strip,” he added in a post on the social media platform X late Saturday.
Possible “environmental disaster”
A Yemeni government statement said the ship sank on Friday night and warned of an “environmental disaster.”
Yemen's internationally recognized government is based in the southern port of Aden, while the Houthis control much of the north and other major centers.
The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it was attacked, the U.S. military's Central Command said earlier.
On Monday, a Yemeni government team visited the Rubymar and said it was partially flooded and could sink within days.
The US military had previously said the attack caused significant damage to the freighter and caused a 29-kilometer-long oil slick.
The Houthi attacks against Israel-linked ships were a response to Israel's war on Gaza, the group said.
The attacks have disrupted international trade on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
Rerouting ships around the Cape of Good Hope, the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, can add up to two weeks to a shipment's journey time and between 3,000 and 6,000 additional nautical miles (between 5,556 and 11,112 km).
In response to the attacks on ships, the US and Britain began strikes against targets in Yemen in January. The US also renamed the Houthis a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) unit.
The attacks and counterattacks have raised fears that Israel's war on Gaza could expand and destabilize the entire Middle East.