LONDON/ATHENS (Reuters) -A Saudi-owned crude tanker and a separate Panama-flagged oil ship were attacked on Monday in the Red Sea off Yemen, two sources familiar with the matter said, although it was unclear if the vessels were hit by Iran-aligned Houthi militants.
The sources said the Saudi-flagged Amjad and Panama-flagged Blue Lagoon I were sailing near to each other when they were hit, although the tankers were able to continue their voyages with no major damage assessed or any casualties.
The Amjad’s owner, Saudi national shipping group Bahri, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The supertanker has a maximum capacity of 2 million barrels.
The Greek manager of the Blue Lagoon I, Sea Trade Marine SA, was not immediately available for comment. The suezmax tanker has a maximum capacity of 1 million barrels.
One of the sources said the Amjad was unlikely to have been directly targeted.
Riyadh, the world’s top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles have been fired over its territory to target ships in the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has tried to extract itself from a messy war in Yemen and a destructive feud with the Houthis’ principal backer Iran.
Yemen’s Houthis first launched aerial drone and missile strikes on the waterway in November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. In over 70 attacks, they have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers.
Earlier on Monday, British maritime agency UKMTO reported that a merchant vessel was hit by a drone (UAV) some 58 nautical miles off Yemen’s Hodeidah, a Red Sea port just south of Saleef – and both within areas controlled by the Houthis.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Yannis Souliotis and Renee Maltezou in Athens, Yomna Ehab, Nadine Awadalla, Jana Choukeir and Yousef Saba in Dubai, Pesha Magid in Riyadh; editing by Tom Hogue, Gareth Jones, Jason Neely and David Evans)
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