The crew aboard a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker hit by a missile launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels extinguished an hours long fire onboard the stricken vessel Saturday sparked by the strike, authorities said.
The attack on the Marlin Luanda further complicated the Red Sea crisis caused by the Iranian-backed rebels' attacks over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The tanker carried Russian-produced naphtha, a flammable oil, drawing Moscow further into a conflict that so far it had blamed on the U.S.
The Marlin Luanda burned for hours until being extinguished on Saturday, said Trafigura, a Singapore-based trading firm. Its crew of 25 Indian nationals and two Sri Lankans were still trying to battle the blaze sparked by the missile strike, it said. No one was injured by the blast, it added.
The Indian Navy is assisting in firefighting efforts. The Navy said that its guided missile destroyer, INS Visakhapatnam, was deployed in the Gulf of Aden in response to a distress call from the oil tanker on the night of January 26.
"The firefighting efforts onboard the distressed Merchant Vessel are being augmented by the NBCD team along with firefighting equipment, deployed by INS Visakhapatnam to assist the crew onboard the MV," the Navy said in a statement.
Early Saturday, US Forces conducted a strike against a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed at the Red Sea and prepared to launch, the US Military's Central Command said. That attack came after the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, had to shoot down a Houthi missile targeting it.
"We are pleased to confirm that all crew on board the Marlin Luanda are safe and the fire in the cargo tank has been fully extinguished," Trafigura said. "The vessel is now sailing towards a safe harbor."
The ship, managed by a British firm, is carrying the Russian naphtha bound for Singapore, the company said. It described the flammable oil as being purchased below the price caps set by G7 sanctions placed on Russia over its ongoing war on Ukraine. It wasn't clear what environmental impact the attack had caused.
Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree claimed the attack on the Marlin Luanda in a prerecorded statement late Friday, describing it as a "British oil ship." He insisted such attacks would continue.