The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations announced on Friday that three fires broke out on a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea, CNN said.
The Houthis, who control the most densely populated regions of Yemen, announced on Thursday that they had launched an attack on the Sounion oil tanker as part of their ongoing 10-month campaign against commercial shipping.
The campaign aims to support the Palestinians amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The threat of Houthi attacks has forced many ships passing through the Suez Canal between Asia and Europe to reroute around Africa, raising shipping costs, delaying cargo and increasing pollution.
The Houthis first struck the tanker on Wednesday with a series of attacks that resulted in a fire and a loss of engine power. The European naval vessel subsequently rescued the crew of 25. The tanker, left without a crew, was anchored between Yemen and Eritrea. However, on Friday, the UKMTO issued a statement confirming that it had received reports of three fires on the vessel.
On the same day, the Houthis shared the video on social media that purportedly showed them igniting the tanker, which was transporting 150,000 metric tonnes of crude oil and poses a significant environmental threat, as reported by the EU naval mission in the Red Sea, known as Aspides.
The Sounion is the third ship operated by the Athens-based Delta Tankers to be targeted by the Houthis this month. The attack prompted by the fact that Delta tankers had breached a ban on entering the ports of occupied Palestine, according to Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree during a televised address.
On 14 August, two ships off the coast of Yemen, identified as the Delta Atlantica, registered under the Liberian flag, and the On Phoenix, flying the Panamanian flag, came under attack. Moreover, the group launched six projectiles at a military base, all of which landed near the US base.
The largest recorded spill from a vessel occurred in 1979, when approximately 287,000 tonnes of oil leaked from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another crude carrier in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago during a storm, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.
