The Greek oil products tanker Sounion (IMO 9312145) is reported to be ablaze and abandoned by her crew at a position roughly 77 nautical miles west of the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The initial attack came at around 06:00 local time from two small boats early on Wednesday 21 August 2024 as the ship was sailing in the lower Red Sea. Sounion had earlier departed from the Iraqi port of Al Basrah. AIS reports indicated her destination as Singapore which is in the opposite direction to which the tanker was sailing.
The 274-metre long, 50m wide 163,759-dwt tanker was struck by three or four projectiles which damaged the ship’s steering. An exchange of small arms fire also took place before the small boats, with a reported 15 people on board, left the scene. Sounion meanwhile was left unable to steer but was otherwise reported to be undamaged.
The Greek shipping ministry and the UK maritime agency UK MTO confirmed this report and added there were no injuries.
At around 09:00 there was news of a further attack on Sounion which was set on fire when the ship was hit by two projectiles, causing the crew to abandon the vessel which had also lost her engine power.
A subsequent report from UK MTO stated there was a fire onboard and the vessel was drifting and not under command.
Sounion had a crew of 25 seafarers – two Russians and 23 Filipinos.
Sounion is owned by Delta Tankers. Earlier this month, the Houthis attacked the Delta Tankers-owned Delta Blue four times in the space of 24 hours with rocket-propelled grenades. The attacks caused no injuries or physical damage. The Delta Atlantica was also attacked this month.
The increasing use of small spotter boats may be an indication that strikes by US and UK forces on Houthi positions are having an effect of sufficiently degrading the rebels’ ability to use drones and missiles, causing them to resort to identifying passing ships by boat.
US and UK air force and naval assets in the area have paid special attention to Houthi radar installations, forcing the increased use of spotter boats to seek out passing ships.
Written by Africa Ports & Ships and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.
