A missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen hit a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, with the crew reporting three people killed and at least four wounded, the US military said.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting merchant vessels transiting the Red Sea trade route for months, but Wednesday’s deaths were the first reported fatalities in such an attack.
An anti-ship ballistic missile struck the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned M/V True Confidence, after which its crew reported “three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Photo: AFP / US Central Command
“The crew abandoned the ship, and coalition warships responded and are assessing the situation,” it said, adding that the attack was the fifth time the Houthis had launched an anti-ship ballistic missile in two days.
“These reckless attacks by the Houthis have disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers,” it said.
The Indian Navy wrote on X that it rescued 21 crew members, including an Indian national.
It published video footage of the rescue operation, saying that eight people were winched to safety by helicopter while others were evacuated to hospitals in Djibouti.
The Philippine Department of Migrant Workers said in a statement yesterday that two of the crew members killed were Filipinos and two others were “severely injured.”
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on social media that the True Confidence was targeted with multiple missiles “after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages” from the Houthis.
CENTCOM said several hours after the True Confidence was hit that it had carried out strikes against “two unmanned aerial vehicles in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen that presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships.”
“These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels,” it said in a separate statement.
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