The crew of a ship attacked by men launching rocket-propelled grenades have been rescued from the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.
The vessel, identified because the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas, caught fire after being hit by sea drones and men firing guns from small boats, in response to Maritime security sources.
The crew abandoned the sinking merchant ship and were rescued by one other passing vessel.
All crew have now been accounted for.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an announcement: ‘Vessels in the realm should exercise extreme caution whilst transiting the southern Red Sea, as vessel
stays abandoned and unlit’.
No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as tensions remain high within the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war.
Nevertheless, the size of the attack led to the suspicion that Yemen’s Houthi rebels carried it out. The rebels acknowledged the attack happened but haven’t claimed carrying out the assault.
‘It likely serves as a message that the Houthis proceed to own the aptitude and willingness to strike at strategic maritime targets no matter diplomatic developments,’ wrote Mohammad al-Basha, a Yemen analyst on the Basha Report risk advisory firm.
The UKMTOsaid that an armed security team on the ship had returned fire.
Ambrey, a maritime security firm, issued a warning saying that a merchant ship had been ‘attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound within the Red Sea’. It said it believed the attack was ongoing.
The ship was attacked 51 nautical miles south west of Al Hudaydah.
Ambrey said in a separate advisory that the ship was later attacked by 4 Unmanned Surface Vehicles.
‘Two of the USVs impacted the port side of the vessel, damaging the vessel’s cargo,’Ambrey added. The UKMTO said the attack resulted in a hearth onboard and that the incident was ongoing.
The UKMTO advised vessels in the realm to proceed with caution and report any suspicious activity.
The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against industrial and military ships within the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to finish Israel’s offensive against Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
The group’s al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack had occurred, but offered no other comment on it because it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted greater than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing 4 sailors. This has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which generally sees one trillion US dollars of products move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. This ended weeks later and the Houthis haven’t attacked a vessel, although they’ve continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.
Meanwhile, a wider, decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country’s exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, stays in a stalemate.
Pirates from Somalia have also operated within the region, although typically they’ve sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews.
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