The French navy rescued 29 people from a stricken oil tanker that came under repeated attack in the Red Sea, officials said on Thursday.
The French destroyer also took out an unmanned, remote-controlled, sea-borne vessel (also known as a drone boat) carrying bombs in the area during the operation in the busy shipping lane, which has been subjected to regular assaults by Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
Houthis are suspected to have carried out the assault, the most destructive in weeks, on the Sounion, which has now been abandoned.
The attack follows a multiple-month campaign by the group targeting ships over the war in Gaza.
The Sounion is now anchored in the Red Sea and no longer drifting, the European Union’s Operation Aspides said.
However, it remains unclear whether or not the vessel is still on fire.
The ship was staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who have now been taken to Djibouti on the African side of Red Sea, according to the EU mission in the region.
“Carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, the MV Sounion now represents a navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned.
“It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.”
The French destroyer involved in the rescue has not yet been named.
During the attack on Wednesday, men on small boats first opened fire with small arms some 90 miles west of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida in Yemen, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center.
Four projectiles also hit the ship, it added. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were drones or missiles.
The EU mission in the region said that the Sounion had not asked for an escort before the attacks.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks; however, it can take the group hours or days before acknowledging their assaults.
Despite this, they did acknowledge U.S. airstrikes in Hodeida that destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile and radar system on Wednesday.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, also killing four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
After Iran threatened to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Washington ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area.
Early on Thursday, the U.S. Military’s Central Command said the Lincoln had reached Middle Eastern waters, but declined to elaborate on its precise location.
The United States also ordered the USS Georgia-guided missile submarine into the region, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group is in the Gulf of Oman.
Additional F-22 fighters have flown into the region, and the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35s, is in the Mediterranean.
While the rebels claim that their attacks are limited to targeting ships with Israeli, American, or British links as part of their campaign to “end the war,” many of the vessels that have been subject to attacks have had tenuous connections to the conflict or, in some instances, nothing to do with it at all.
The Red Sea is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with about $1 trillion worth of goods flowing through it annually, but many shipping companies have begun directing their captains to sail around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope to avoid the region entirely.
