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08-03-2024
WASHINGTON/ SANA’A/ DUBAI: A Houthi missile attack on a Red Sea merchant ship left several people dead, the US military said. These are the first fatalities reported since the Houthis began strikes against shipping in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes in November.
Three crew members have been killed in a Houthi missile strike on a cargo ship off southern Yemen, US officials say, the first deaths the group’s attacks on merchant vessels have caused.
The Barbados-flagged True Confidence had been abandoned and was drifting with a fire on board after the strike.
It was hit in the Gulf of Aden at about 11:30 GMT, the US military said.
The Houthis say their attacks are to support the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, said three crew members had been killed and at least four injured, including three critically.
“These reckless attacks by the Houthis have disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers,” it posted on social media.
In a statement, the Iran-backed group said the True Confidence’s crew had ignored warnings from Houthi naval forces.
The British embassy in Yemen said the sailors’ deaths were the “sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping” and insisted the attacks had to stop.
British and US officials had earlier reported two fatalities and six injuries.
The vessel had a crew of 20, comprising one Indian, four Vietnamese and 15 Filipino nationals. Three armed guards two from Sri Lanka and one from Nepal were also on board.
The attack happened about 50 nautical miles (93km) south-west of the Yemeni city of Aden, a spokesman for the ship’s owners and managers said in a statement.
Following the attack, Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported on Wednesday evening that two US-led air strikes had targeted the international airport in the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hudaydah.
The True Confidence had been hailed over VHF radio by a group calling itself the “Yemeni navy” and told to change course, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency.
Nearby vessels then reported a loud bang and a large plume of smoke.
The UKMTO said the True Confidence was hit and suffered damage, and that naval vessels from a US-led international maritime coalition were supporting the ship and its crew. (Int’l News Desk)
