At least six people were killed in a “double-tap” missile strike on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, with the Yemeni government blaming Iran-backed Houthis for the attack.
Yemen’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement that the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Tihamah, a small cargo vessel carrying food.
The initial strike sparked a fire that killed four crew members — three Pakistanis and one Indonesian. While a search-and-rescue operation was underway, the Houthis struck the vessel a second time in an attempt to “endanger the lives of all onboard, including the rescue teams”, the ministry said.
The Yemeni Coast Guard later confirmed that two rescue workers were killed in the second missile strike.
Data from MarineTraffic showed that the Tihamah was sailing under the Tanzanian flag and was owned by companies registered in Egypt and Yemen. Earlier reports had said the vessel was flying the Saudi flag.
The deaths aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would mark the first reported fatalities involving commercial shipping in Houthi attacks since the Iran war began.
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, renewed attention has focused on the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at Yemen’s southern tip, an alternative route for Saudi Arabia to transport its oil.
The Houthis announced last month that they would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea as part of efforts to pressure the kingdom.
In a separate incident, the U.S. military said a U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo vessel.
The vessel had ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade of Iranian ports, U.S. Central Command said. Maritime sources told Reuters that the ship was struck off the coast of Pakistan while sailing into the Gulf of Oman.
Amid the renewed attacks on commercial shipping, oil prices rose and global shares retreated as investor pessimism grew over the prospects of a swift end to the conflict. Brent crude futures gained 1.4% to settle at $88.91 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 1.3% to $83.20.
