Click to see full-size image. (The U.S. Central Command)
A United Kingdom-owned cargo ship attacked by Yemen Houthis (Ansar Allah) last month sank in the Red Sea, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on March 3.
The Belize-flagged Rubymar leaked oil for several days after it was attacked with anti-ship ballistic missiles on February 18 while sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. At the time, the crew abandoned the vessel and evacuated to nearby Djibouti.
CENTCOM posted an image showing the ship on its side on the X social platform and said it went under at 2:15am local time on March 2.
“The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway.”
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a Royal Navy detachment that watches over Middle East waterways, separately also acknowledged the Rubymar’s sinking, according to The Associated Press news agency.
Rubymar is the first ship to sink since the Houthis began targeting Israel-affiliated ships and others linked to the U.S. and the UK in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden last November using missiles and drones in response to the Israeli war and siege on the Gaza Strip.
The group’s repeated attacks forced shipping firms to divert ships to the longer route around southern Africa, disrupting global trade by delaying deliveries and sending costs higher.
The U.S. and the UK launched hundreds of strikes against Houthis-controlled areas in Yemen in response to these attacks. However, the group remains unfettered.
On March 2, the UKMTO said that it had received a report of a ship being attacked 15 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Mokha.
“The crew took the vessel to anchor and were evacuated by military authorities,” the organization said in an advisory note.
On the same day, the Italian Ministry of Defense announced that one of its naval ships had shot down a drone flying towards it in the Red Sea.
