Stricken Oil Tanker Sounion Poses Environmental Risk After Red Sea Attack

A Greek-flagged oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude that was evacuated by its crew after being attacked in the Red Sea now poses an environmental hazard, the EU's Red Sea naval mission "Aspides" said on Thursday.

Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, said on Thursday that they attacked the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Sounion "belongs to a company that have ties with the Israeli enemy and violated the ban decision of entry to the ports of occupied Palestine," the Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.

Sounion was targeted on Wednesday by multiple projectiles off Yemen's port city of Hodeidah.

"Carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, the MV SOUNION now represents a navigational and environmental hazard," Aspides said in a post on social media platform X.

The Sounion was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to be attacked in the Red Sea this month. The attack caused a fire onboard, which the crew extinguished, Delta Tankers said in a statement.

The attack led to the loss of engine power, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Wednesday. On Thursday, UKMTO said the vessel was at anchor and all its crew evacuated.

The vessel was now anchored between Yemen and Eritrea, a maritime security source told Reuters.

Delta Tankers said it was working on a plan to move Sounion to a safer destination for further checks and repairs.

The EU Red Sea naval mission said it responded to a request from the captain of the Sounion and dispatched a ship to rescue the crew to Djibouti, the Aspides said.

"While approaching the area, the EUNAVFOR ASPIDES ship destroyed an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) that posed an imminent threat to the ship and the crew," Aspides added.

The Greek shipping ministry said the vessel was sailing from Iraq to Agioi Theodoroi in Greece with a crew of two Russians and 23 Filipinos.

In dozens of attacks in the Red Sea since November, the Houthis have sunk two vessels and seized another, killed at least three sailors and upended global trade by forcing ship owners to avoid the popular Suez Canal trade shortcut.

The Houthis' leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday "from this week's operations targeting ships violating blockade on vessels heading to Israel, a ship was adrift due to waves after it malfunctioned because of strikes", without specifying the name of the ship.

In another incident on Thursday, the SW North Wind I vessel reported an explosion close to it that caused minor damage after an encounter with an uncrewed vessel 57 nautical miles south of Yemen's port of Aden, the UKMTO said. The vessel and its crew were safe and it was proceeding to its next port of call.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for this attack saying that they directly hit the SW North Wind I in both the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

Greek Shipping Minister Christos Stylianidis condemned on Wednesday the attack on the Sounion, saying its was "a flagrant violation of international law and a serious threat to the safety of international shipping".

Houthi attacks have drawn U.S. and British retaliatory strikes.

British ambassador to Yemen Abda Sharif called the Houthi attacks "illegal and reckless".

"Another Houthi attack threatens Yemen's coastline, fishing industry and environmental catastrophe. Thankfully, the crew have been rescued, but MV Sounion, carrying 150,000 tonnes of oil, is now stranded," she added in a post on X.

(Reuters - Reporting by Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Mohammed Ghoabri in Aden, Ahmed Elimam in Dubai and Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Writing by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by David Evans, David Gregorio and Nick Zieminski)