A video emerged on social media purporting to show the moment a Houthi sea drone hit an Ultrapetrol tanker in the Red Sea early on Tuesday.
Armed guards on the 163,300-dwt tanker Cordelia Moon (built 2013) are seen firing shots at an approaching unmanned sea drone in the video posted on Wednesday on the YouTube channel of Campbell University maritime historian Sal Mercogliano (skip to 05:00 for the action).
Despite their efforts, the drone continued its course and was heard exploding against the ship’s hull.
The images are in line with the known description of the incident, in which the ballasting suezmax tanker was hit by a sea drone at 05:00 GMT on Tuesday, after several failed missile attacks by the Houthis.
Another element suggesting that the video is genuine is that another commercial vessel is seen nearby.
This could the 76,800-dwt bulker Minoan Courage (built 2008), which is known to have been in the vicinity of the Cordelia Moon at that time, hit itself by a separate Houthi missile.
The Houthis have officially claimed responsibility for the complex missile and drone attack on the Cordelia Moon, which they have described as a “British oil tanker”.
As TradeWinds already reported, shipping databases show the ship since November 2023 under the ownership of Ultrapetrol Bahamas, a shipowner registered in Nassau.
Its technical managers are listed as India-based Margao Marine Solutions.
The Houthis have attacked more than 100 ships off Yemen since last November, as part of a campaign to obstruct Israeli trade and hurt Tel Aviv’s Western allies in the widening Middle East conflict.
The Houthi attack against the Cordelia Moon punctured one of the ship's ballast tanks but caused no physical injuries among its crew.
Vessel trackers show the Cordelia Moon currently as underway at a very slow speed in the central Red Sea.
