Red Sea Crisis Continues With Major Attack
The Red Sea crisis has continued this week with another attack on a commercial ship, which has resulted in the first loss of life of merchant crew members.
A missile attack on the vessel ‘True Confidence’, a Greek-operated bulk carrier, happened on Wednesday morning and led to the deaths of three of its crew. According to US Central Command four more crew members were injured, with three in a critical condition.
The vessel was travelling through the Gulf Of Aden, when it was targeted and hit around 50 miles southwest of the city of Aden. The crew abandoned ship and the bulk carrier was left on fire and drifting.
According to a Houthi spokesperson, who confirmed responsibility for the attack, the vessel’s crew ignored warnings from Houthi Naval forces ahead of the strike.
The news followed confirmation that the vessel ‘Rubymar’ had sunk earlier this week. The British registered ship had been struck by two missiles on February 18th, and had been abandoned by the 24 person crew as it continued to take on water.
The ship was reportedly carrying ammonium nitrate fertilisers, which has led to experts fearing an environmental catastrophe could follow. Greenpeace have said that a spill like this could have significant impact on marine ecosystems, which could affect the coral reefs and diverse marine life of the Southern Red Sea.
The latest attack seems to indicate there will be little change to the current steamship line policy of routing vessels around Africa for some time to come.
