Maritime Authority: Ship sustains minor damage off Hodeidah coast

The UK Maritime Trade Operations ( UKMTO ) announced on Thursday that a commercial cargo ship sustained minor damage as a result of an explosion near it after an encounter with an unmanned boat in the Red Sea, off the coast of Hodeidah (western Yemen).

The ship and its crew are safe and continuing on its way to the next port, it added in a note on the X platform.

Earlier today, Thursday, the Authority announced that the same ship and its crew survived five explosions that targeted it at successive intervals, starting yesterday evening, 57 nautical miles south of Aden, off the coast of Yemen.

Since last November, the Iran-backed Houthi militia has been launching drone and missile attacks on cargo ships sailing in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen, claiming that this is in support of Gaza, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war since October 7. These attacks have negatively affected shipping, trade and global supply chains.

As a result, the United States formed a military coalition led by it, and since the beginning of this year, it has been carrying out strikes alongside Britain that it says target the Houthis’ military capabilities, in response to their attacks on cargo ships, which the Houthis responded to with attacks on American and British naval ships, considering them “military targets.”