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Vessel reports incident south-east of Yemen's Aden, UKMTO says

March 4, 2024 at 4:02 pm

An abandoned oil tanker, at risk of sinking due to poor maintenance, is anchored off Yemen’s southern port city of Aden on July 21, 2021 [SALEH OBAIDI/AFP via Getty Images]

A vessel, on Monday, reported an incident south-east of the Yemeni port city of Aden, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said, and British security firm, Ambrey, said the container ship was struck and issued a distress signal, Reuters reports.

It remained unconfirmed whether the vessel was directly impacted or sustained damage due to nearby explosions, Ambrey said. UKMTO said the incident happened 91 nautical miles south-east of Aden.

Ambrey identified the ship as a Liberia-flagged, Israel-affiliated, container ship, en route from Singapore to Djibouti. Neither agency disclosed the vessel’s name.

“The vessel was listed as operated by the Israeli company, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services. This may have been an out-of-date affiliation, as the vessel was not listed on other public sources,” Ambrey added.

The container ship continued to transmit an AIS signal after the incident, it said.

The Houthi group in Yemen have launched attacks on shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the Israel-Palestine war in Gaza.

The Rubymar cargo ship sank on Friday, becoming the first vessel lost since the Houthis began their attacks.

READ: Houthis insist on entry of aid into Gaza in exchange for salvaging sunken British ship