Yemeni rebels have detained a UAE-flagged landing craft with an unidentified number of seafarers on board, news outlets and maritime security analysts reported on Monday.
The incident is said to have occurred on Sunday night in the Red Sea, 23 nautical miles (42.6 km) west of Ras Issa terminal in Yemen, Diaplous Group said in a maritime security alert.
Gulf News identifies the vessel as the 1,304-gt Rwabee (built 2021), a landing craft listed in the fleet of Khalid Faraj Marine Shipping.
Contacted by TradeWinds, an aide said that the company did not wish to make any comment on the Rwabee.
Khalid Faraj Marine Shipping is a major UAE-based operator of landing crafts, tug boats, barges, crew boats and AHTS vessels.
MarineTraffic data shows the Rwabee to have been underway from the Saudi port of Al Jubail on the Persian Gulf to Jazan in the Red Sea.
Conflicting accounts
Yemen has been the battleground in a civil war pitting a Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
According to the Saudi-led coalition, the Rwabee was carrying hospital equipment to Jazan, Saudi Arabia, when the Houthi rebels "hijacked" the ship off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
Diaplous, however, cited a Houthi military spokesman saying that the ship was carrying military equipment and that it was engaged in "hostile acts targeting the security and stability of the Yemeni people".
A crew "of different nationalities" is said to be still on board the Rwabee.
Both sides in the war are known to be interfering with shipping.
In November, the Yemen Petroleum Co claimed that Saudi-led coalition forces had stopped the 47,000-dwt Fos Power (built 2007) from docking in Houti-controlled Hodeidah.
The vessel’s Greek operator, Aerio Shipmanagement, however, denied the ship was involved in any kind of detention.
AIS data showed the Fos Power as laden at anchor on 3 January, in the middle of the Red Sea.
