Drifting oil tanker identified as Sounion following assault by Houthi forces in the Red Sea.
The team from the Greek oil carrier, "Sounion," allegedly under attack by Houthi insurgents from Yemen, has bailed from the vessel carrying around a million barrels of crude oil. The 25 crew members are now in Djibouti, as affirmed by an EU naval operation "Aspides" representative on Thursday.
Currently, the ship is said to be floating somewhere between Yemen and Eritrea, as reported by security officials. This event marks the third assault on a vessel belonging to Athens-based Delta Tankers in the Red Sea within this particular month. The Houthi rebels in Yemen usually point a finger at commercial ships as retaliation, labeling it as support for Hamas during their battle against Israel in Gaza.
Unfortunately, the Houthi rebels have not acknowledged responsibility for the "Sounion" raid. On Wednesday, the ship suffered damage from various projectiles, approximately 77 nautical miles west of Yemen's Hodeidah port city. These attacks sparked a fire on board and rendered the engines inoperable, thereby leaving the vessel stranded in the Red Sea. Before evacuation, an unmanned boat reportedly posing a threat to the "Sounion" was supposedly neutralized, as mentioned by an EU naval operation spokesperson.
Despite the damage sustained, the crew managed to evacuate the stranded oil carrier, "Sounion," with its valuable cargo of approximately a million barrels of oil still floating in the Red Sea. Due to the disruption, oil prices in international markets are anticipated to rise, affecting global economies that rely heavily on crude oil.
