Tanker boarded by armed group off Yemen, says British military
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CAIRO (AP) — A chemical tanker was boarded by an armed group off the coast of Yemen on Friday while it was transiting in the Gulf of Aden, the British military said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO,) said military authorities had reported that the vessel was boarded by “unauthorized personnel” south of al-Mukalla province in Yemen.
Ambrey, a British maritime security firm, said Somali pirate are believed to have boarded the tanker, which does not have an armed security team on board.
The firm said a Korean naval vessel was on its way to assist the tanker which issued a distress call while heading westbound.
The data tracker, Maritime Traffic, showed that the Tanzania-flagged oil and chemical tanker Asana was en route to Bosaso, Somalia.
Yemen’s coast guard in Aden didn’t immediately respond to request for comments.
It is the latest maritime attack off one of the world’s poorest countries, which has been ravaged by a yearslong civil war.
Somali pirates have been active further away in the Gulf of Aden recently. Suspected pirates attacked a vessel 76 nautical miles (140 kilometers) south of the port town of Balhaf in southeastern Yemen on July 1. Four armed men on a small craft caused minor damage to the ship’s bridge, according to the UKMTO.
On Thursday, the European Union signed a deal with Djibouti to strengthen Red Sea naval force against the Iran-backed rebel Houthis, who have repeatedly threatened to launch attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
The EU operates two maritime security fleets in the Red Sea, a vital waterway linking the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal with the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Yemen has suffered from a civil war that began in 2014 eventually pitted Iran-backed Houthi rebels against a Saudi-led coalition supporting the country’s government. While the Iran war that began on Feb. 28 reignited all sorts of regional rivalries, the peace between the Houthis and Saudis had mostly prevailed, until this week.
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Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.