Red Sea Attack Leads To Fatalities
The Red Sea crisis has worsened this week with a major attack on a commercial ship resulting in the first loss of life of merchant crew members.
A missile attack on the vessel ‘True Confidence’, a Greek-operated bulk carrier, occured on Wednesday morning, leading to the deaths of three of it’s crew. According to US Central Command four more crew members were injured, and three are in a critical condition.
The vessel was traversing the Gulf Of Aden, when it was targeted and hit around 50 miles southwest of the city of Aden. The crew abandoned ship and the bulk carrier was left on fire and drifting.
According to a Houthi Rebel spokesperson, who claimed responsibility for the attack, the vessel’s crew ignored warnings from Houthi Naval forces ahead of the strike.
The news follows widespread reports that the vessel ‘Rubymar’ had finally sunk this week. The British registered ship had been struck by two missiles on February 18th, and had been abandoned by the crew as it continued to take on water.
The ship is understood to have been carrying ammonium nitrate fertilisers, which has led to experts fearing an environmental disaster could follow. Greenpeace have said that a spill like this could have significant impact on marine ecosystems, which could in turn affect the coral reefs and diverse marine life of the Southern Red Sea.
The latest attack seems to indicate there will be little change to the current steamship line policy of routing vessels around The Cape Of Good Hope for some time to come.
