Ambrey says fuel tanker in Red Sea attacked, two explosions reported

CAIRO (Reuters) -A Marshall Islands-flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker reported two explosions near the ship as it travelled off the coast of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, the third merchant vessel attack of the past 48 hours, British security firm Ambrey said on Friday.

The crew from the ship involved in the latest Red Sea incident was U.S.-owned until recently, Ambrey said.

The Master of a merchant vessel located in a similar area reported an explosion a distance off the vessel’s starboard beam, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations(UKTMO). Reuters was not immediately able to verify if the same ship was the subject of the two reports.

Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since mid-November in professed solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Their attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to take longer and more expensive journeys around the southern end of Africa.

There was no damage or crew injuries reported to ships involved in the earlier attacks.

The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response to the attacks on shipping.

Late on Thursday, the U.S. military said Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden, and to the north, two missiles toward the Red Sea, but there were no injuries or damage reported to U.S. or coalition ships.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said early on Friday it destroyed nine anti-ship missiles and two drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

(Reporting by Muhammad Al Gebaly, Ahmed Elimam, Clauda Tanios, Enas Alashray, Ahmed Tolba and Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Gerry Doyle, Michael Perry, Alex Richardson and David Gregorio)