July 15 (Reuters) – A merchant vessel in the Red Sea reported three missiles had exploded nearby on Monday, after the ship earlier came under attack by three small craft, Britain’s maritime agency and security firm Ambrey said.
The vessel, which was about 70 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, reported one missile exploding at 0800 GMT, then another two missiles around 45 minutes later, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
Earlier on Monday, an unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and two manned small craft fired at it, UKMTO said.
Both the vessel and crew were reported as safe and proceeded to its next port of call, Ambrey said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But since November, the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen has launched drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group says these actions are in solidarity with Palestinians affected by Israel’s war in Gaza.
The vessel conducted “self-protection measures”, then after 15 minutes the small craft aborted the attack, UKMTO said.
In dozens of attacks since November, the Houthis have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three sailors.
The attacks have upended global trade by forcing ship owners to reroute vessels away from the Suez Canal, and drawn retaliatory U.S. and British strikes since February.
At least 65 countries and major energy and shipping companies have been affected by Houthis attacks, according to a report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Jana Choukeir, Writing by Ahmed Elimam, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Sharon Singleton)
