Houthis militants have confirmed an attack targeting a Greek-owned LPG carrier.
A missile fired at the Marshall-Islands flagged 84,100-cbm Mado (built 2015) on Sunday came within 200m of hitting the Naftomar-operated ship, the Combined Maritime Forces’ Joint Information Center said in a statement.
The incident happened 85 nautical miles south-east of Aden, the home of Yemen’s exiled government.
None of the crew were hurt and the ship continued its journey.
“The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against the American ship Mado in the Red Sea, with a number of suitable naval missiles,” Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said on social media channels on Tuesday.
The strike is part of the Houthis months-long campaign to prevent shipping with links to Israel, the US and the UK from transiting in and around the Red Sea in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
No ship has taken a direct hit since the 50,448-dwt bulker True Confidence (built 2011) was struck by a Houthi missile in early March, leaving three crew members dead and others injured.
And before that, the British-linked 32,300-dwt bulker Rubymar (built 1997) was hit and sunk in the region.
But UK Maritime Trade Operations had said an unnamed ship sustained damage in an incident at 02:05 UTC on Friday, 76 miles (122 km) north-west of Hodeidah in Yemen.
But a later report from a security source said the master had initially reported a direct strike to the ship, as well as damage, but a daylight inspection showed the vessel was unscathed.
Arrivals of LPG carriers in the Gulf of Aden are down by 88% according to Clarksons Research. As of Tuesday, there are fewer than 10 such vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, data shows.
The latest attacks come despite a report in the Financial Times that the US held secret talks with Iran this year to try to halt the assaults.
The newspaper said US officials sought to convince Tehran to use its influence over the Houthis to stop the missile and drone strikes that have targeted dozens of ships since mid-November.
