Four days after a senior Houthi official said his group would allow tugboats to tow a burning, abandoned tanker that the Yemeni rebels hit in the Red Sea last month, EU and US officials said the rescue is on.
The European Union’s Aspides naval force active in the area said in a social media post late on Monday that it would protect the private companies undertaking the salvage operation, which “is about to start”.
A few hours later, US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed in a post that “salvage efforts are underway in the Southern Red Sea for the disabled [163,800-dwt] Sounion” [built 2006]”.
Neither Aspides nor Centcom identified the salvage companies and tugs involved in the operation.
However, two vessels associated with previous salvages of Houthi-stricken ships — the 15,000-bhp Gladiator (built 1977) and 5,150-bhp Hercules (built 2009) — are nearby and probably on standby.
Both boats are subject to US sanctions against Iran. Their use would therefore require special dispensation from US authorities, which has been granted in the past.
Aspides said the unidentified salvors have sought security protection, which Europe’s naval force has agreed to provide.
Despite previous statements by Pentagon officials and authorities in Greece, the flag of which the Sounion is flying, Aspides reiterated on Monday that there is no visible oil spill from the suezmax, which carries close to 1m barrels of Iraqi crude.
It is not drifting and continues to be anchored.
The risk of an oil spill is nevertheless still “significant”, as “several fires” continue burning on the main deck, Aspides said.
Bahri VLCC attacked
Houthi missiles struck the Sounion on 21 August. After the crew abandoned ship, the Houthis sent fighters aboard to set off explosives on its deck.
Even if the militia allows tugs to help prevent an oil spill from the Sounion, this will not mean they have any intention of stopping attacking other vessels whose managers or owners it claims are trading with Israel.
As TradeWinds already reported, the Houthis attacked and hit two other tankers on Monday — the 148,600-dwt Blue Lagoon I (built 2003) of Panagis Zissimatos-linked Sea Trade Marine and Saudi owner Bahri’s 298,900-dwt VLCC Amjad (built 2017).
According to Centcom, the two ships suffered impacts from two missiles and a one-way attack uncrewed aerial system respectively.
However, they reported no casualties and were proceeding to their next port of call, the Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations said.
The Amjad alone is carrying twice the amount of crude that is on the Sounion.
