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The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have released a video allegedly showing an explosion on a Red Sea tanker carrying 136,000 tonnes of crude oil. The Sounion was abandoned by its crew on Thursday after repeated attacks by the Houthis, who boarded the abandoned vessel and rigged it with explosives in an attempt to sink it on Friday.
The Greek-flagged tanker still had smoke rising from multiple points along its deck and bridge on Sunday, with the Houthis now releasing a video allegedly showing explosions on the Sounion. Fires could be seen burning in at least nine different locations on the deck of the vessel, which had been loaded with 136,000 tonnes of Iraqi crude oil. Some flames appeared near hatches of the tanker’s oil tanks.
The Sounion remains ablaze and appears to be adrift but hasn’t sprung a major oil leak in the waterway, the EU’s Operation Aspides, whose mission is to protect shipping in the area, said on Monday. The US State Department warned that should the crude oil spill into the Red Sea, the environmental disaster could be greater than Exxon Valdez , as four times the amount of oil could spill and endanger the coral reefs and wildlife in the area.
‘So far there are no obvious signs of an oil spill,’ the EU mission said. The Sounion ‘is both a navigational and an imminent environmental hazard. ‘This situation underlines that these kinds of attacks pose not only a threat against the freedom of navigation but also to the lives of seafarers, the environment, and subsequently the life of all citizens living in that region.’
The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that typically passes through the region, as well as halting some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. ‘While the crew has been evacuated, the Houthis appear determined to sink the ship and its cargo into the sea,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added in a statement.
‘Through these attacks, the Houthis have made clear they are willing to destroy the fishing industry and regional ecosystems that Yemenis and other communities in the region rely on for their livelihoods, just as they have undermined the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to the region through their reckless attacks.’ For their part, the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel highlighted the EU’s photographs and described the Sounion as being targeted for ‘punishment to the company that owns the ship for violating the decision to ban access to the ports’ of Israel.
The Sounion came under repeated attack last week by the Houthis. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides later rescued the Sounion’s crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, and took them to nearby Djibouti.
The attack on the Sounion marks the most serious assault in weeks by the rebels, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
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