A missile has been fired in the direction of a tanker in the Gulf of Aden, far from the epicentre of previous Houthi attacks.
The incident comes amid warnings from coalition military forces and maritime security firms for shipping to stay away from the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
And it comes a day after air and naval strikes by the US and Britain focused on taking out the Houthis’ capacity to launch missiles and drones against merchant ships.
The Royal Navy’s UK Maritime Trade Operations unit said on Friday that it received a report of a missile being fired 90 nautical miles (167 km) south-east of the Yemeni port of Aden.
Maritime security firm Ambrey Analytics said the incident involved a Panama-flagged tanker that was sailing from Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga to Vadinar in north-west India.
The ship has not been identified, but the only tanker on vessel tracking data that meets its description is the 108,900-dwt LR2 product carrier Khalissa (built 2009).
S&P Global’s database lists the registered owner as Bubble Marine of the Seychelles and its technical manager as Megger Marine Solutions of the United Arab Emirates. TradeWinds could not reach the company for comment.
Tracking data shows the ship is laden with a Russian cargo.
On Friday, the master reported that the missile landed 400 to 500 metres away from the tanker, according to the UK alert.
Ambrey said it was then followed by three skiffs.
There were no injuries or damage and the ship is continuing on its route.
Ambrey pointed out that the vessel was previously owned by a UK company, Union Maritime, when it was named Wellington.
“Ambrey assessed that the vessel was mistakenly targeted based on outdated publicly available information linking the vessel to the UK,” the firm said.
“This was the second tanker mistakenly targeted by the Houthis whilst carrying Russian oil.”
But Houthi officials have been critical of the Seychelles, where the ship’s owner is registered, for its role in Operation Prosperity Guardian, the US-led naval force in the Red Sea.
UK Maritime Trade Operations received multiple reports of small boats approaching merchant ships 80 nautical miles south-east of Yemen. In one instance, two boats trailed a ship for more than an hour, though no weapons were seen.
Yannick Guerry and Harry Papachristou contributed to this story
