Red Sea: Burning Oil Tanker, Disaster Risk
Houthis, who have been obstructing aid, now agree to truce for reconstruction operations
There are fears that there will be a natural disaster in the Red Sea because the oil ship has been attacked by the Houthis. The Greek ship Sounion has been hit on August 21, 2024, by missiles and drones off the coast of the armed group-controlled city of al-Hudayda in Yemen. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack as part of solidarity with the Palestinian cause and aimed at harming Israel.
The Sounion’s cargo is 150,000 tons of crude oil, nearly a million barrels, four times the amount that the Exxon Valdez in Alaska spilled into the sea in 1989.
The 29 sailors on board were rescued during Operation Aspides (European operation), which utilized a French destroyer. However, the Pentagon reports that rescue attempts were thwarted by threats from the Houthis, and two tugs sent to help Sounion were forced to abandon.
However, on August 29, the Houthis apparently agreed to grant a temporary truce to allow for salvage operations on the oil tanker, as reported by various international media outlets, citing what a member of the Iranian mission to the UN said.
Again, according to the Pentagon, oil had already begun leaking from the ship into the sea, while Aspides’s command initially ruled out any leak and focused on the severity of the fire. Now they want to tow the ship to the port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
