The first ship to be bombed by the Houthis within two weeks arrives in Djibouti

A Greek company operating a container ship that was hit on Saturday in an attack by the Houthi group off Yemen, the first of its kind in two weeks, said that the tanker arrived safely in Djibouti and that the attack did not result in injuries or water leakage.

The Iran-aligned group announced on Sunday that it had targeted the Liberian-flagged ship MV Groton in the Gulf of Aden with ballistic missiles, in the first Houthi attack on sea shipping routes since Israel carried out a retaliatory air strike on the port of Hodeidah on July 20.

Conbulk Ship Management Corporation said in a statement on Monday that the MV Groton was hit by a missile 60 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen while heading from Dubai to Jeddah. The company explained that its course was diverted to Djibouti and it arrived there on Sunday.

The company added, “There were no reports of injuries or pollution, and no water leakage occurred due to the strike,” stressing that the safety of the crew was a top priority.

“A full damage assessment will be conducted... followed by necessary repairs,” she said.

The company stated that a fire broke out in the cargo holds that were bombed and in containers on the main deck after the strike. The crew extinguished the fire.

The attack is the first since the fleeting calm that followed Israel's attack on the port of Hodeidah, which occurred a day after a drone attack launched by the group on Tel Aviv.

Houthi militants have been launching attacks on international shipping lanes near Yemen since last November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The attacks led to retaliatory strikes from the United States and Britain and disrupted global trade, forcing shipping companies to redirect their ships away from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and sail around the southern tip of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope route.

Source: Reuters