Yemen Monitor/Aden/private:
A commercial vessel suffered severe flooding on Sunday morning near the eastern mouth of the Gulf of Aden, off the eastern coast of Yemen. The crew safely abandoned ship, according to UKMTO.
The UKMTO reported that the master and crew of a vessel 96 nautical miles southeast of Nashtoon Port, Yemen, were forced to abandon it after it suffered uncontrolled flooding. A passing vessel rescued the crew, and the abandoned vessel remains afloat but is sinking. Due to recent Houthi attacks on ships, it was widely believed to be the result of an attack by the armed group.
The UKMTO did not identify the name of the vessel involved.
The Houthis have sunk at least two ships since launching their campaign against maritime shipping last autumn; and damaged dozens of others.
A Houthi statement released late Sunday claimed that the group had targeted two ships: the first (Trans World Navigator) was targeted in the Red Sea using a “unmanned boat” resulting in a direct hit to the ship – according to the Houthis – and the second ship (Stolt Sequoia) in the Indian Ocean with “a number of cruise missiles”.
The ships were located, before the Houthi attacks, far from Socotra Port, indicating that neither ship was the one that suffered flooding on Sunday morning.
Returning to the UKMTO statement, the incident was described as a “SOLAS incident”. The agency made no mention of any hostile attack, and the location of the incident is far from the high-risk area where the Houthis have attacked commercial vessels in Yemen.
A SOLAS incident means that the incident is related to a defect in the commercial vessel or its operation, and refers to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which obliges states to comply with minimum safety standards during the construction and operation of commercial ships.
However, the growing number of explosive suicide boats sent by the Houthis into the water could pose a significant threat to shipping. These rudimentary devices were responsible for the attack on the vessel “Totor” earlier this month, which killed one crew member in the engine room. The survivors were rescued, but the ship sank.
Since November, the Houthis have targeted more than 125 commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and have recently expanded their operations to the Indian Ocean. They have said they are targeting ships linked to Israel, which is waging a brutal offensive in Gaza Strip. However, the Yemeni government and experts say the Houthis’ goals are domestic aiming to escape internal crises and improve their image in the region.
