Yemeni Houthi militants have “allegedly sunk” a second vessel in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Office (UKMTO) said on Tuesday.
The Greek-owned coal carrier Tutor was hit by missiles and an explosive-laden remote-controlled boat on June 12.
The suspected wreckage of the vessel was found at the site of the attack. One crew member, believed to have been in the Tutor’s engine room at the time of the attack, remains missing.
The British-owned Rubymar was the first ship sunk by the Houthis. It sank on March 2, about two weeks after it was hit by a missile attack.
The UKMTO’s report of the alleged sinking of Tutor came a week after the Houthis severely damaged a Liberian-flagged vessel and the Palau-flagged Verbena, which was loaded with wooden building materials.
The sailors from the Verbena abandoned the vessel after the fire could not be contained. Meanwhile, the burned vessel is now adrift in the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis began striking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November last year in protest against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. On the night of January 12, in response to their actions, the US and Britain launched an attack on Houthi targets in Yemen. The White House said the strikes on movement-controlled areas of the country were defensive in nature. It was also claimed at the time that the strikes were carried out to protect international vessels.
