A cargo ship damaged by a Houthi missile and abandoned in the Red Sea is slowly taking on water, the U.S. military said early Saturday, warning that its sinking could be environmentally disastrous because of a large load of fertilizer it was carrying.
The operator of the vessel, called the Rubymar, said the partly submerged ship was still afloat and would soon be towed to Djibouti or Aden, a port city in Yemen. Its remaining cargo would be transferred to another ship and sent to Bulgaria, said Roy Khoury, the head of the ship’s operator, Blue Fleet Group. The ship’s engine room and one of its holding compartments are underwater, he said.
The U.S. Central Command said in a statement on social media early Saturday that the damage to the vessel had created an 18-mile oil slick. The command called it an “environmental disaster” that could get much worse if the tens of thousands of tons of fertilizer the ship was carrying were to spill into the Red Sea.
Though few of the Houthi missile and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza have inflicted major damage, the attack on the Rubymar appeared to be one of the Houthis’ more serious to date. At least one missile struck the ship on Monday night after being fired from a part of Yemen controlled by Houthi militants, the U.S. military said.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed group that has been targeting ships in what they call a campaign to pressure Israel to stop the war in Gaza, later claimed that they had sunk the ship. But satellite imagery and the ship’s operator confirmed that the Houthis had not. The U.S. Central Command said it was anchored but slowly taking on water.
After the Rubymar was hit, its crew issued a distress call and then abandoned ship, according to the Central Command. A coalition warship responded to the distress call, and the crew was taken to a port by a merchant vessel in the area, a Central Command statement said.
They were taken to Djibouti by a vessel operated by a French shipping company and have since flown home, according to Mr. Khoury. Djibouti port officials said 24 crew members were on board: 11 Syrians, six Egyptians, three Indians and four Filipinos.
The port officials also said that the fertilizer the Rubymar was carrying is classified as “high consequence dangerous goods” for its combustion risk by the International Maritime Organization, the U.N. body that regulates global shipping. The Central Command said the ship was carrying 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it was attacked. The Blue Fleet Group did not comment about the ship’s cargo.
The Rubymar, a bulk carrier sailing with a Belize flag, is owned by Golden Adventure Shipping, a company registered in the Marshall Islands, Mr. Khoury said. The Blue Fleet Group is based out of Athens.
Since the Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea, a coalition of countries, including the United States and Britain, have used naval forces to defend vessels and retaliate. The U.S.-led coalition has repeatedly struck missiles and launchers in Yemen and intercepted drones and missiles. But the attacks have persisted against ships flying a variety of flags.
On Thursday, the Central Command said that it had conducted “self-defense strikes” against four Iranian-backed Houthi drones and two missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen. On Friday, the military said it had shot down three Houthi drones near “several commercial ships operating in the Red Sea” and destroyed seven missiles being prepared to launch.
Riley Mellen contributed reporting.
