Bulker's Crew Abandons Ship After "Uncontrolled" Flooding off Yemen

On Sunday morning, a merchant ship sustained serious flooding at a position near the eastern mouth of the Gulf of Aden, just off Yemen's eastern coast. The crew have safely abandoned ship, according to the UK Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO). 

The incident occurred at about 0840 hours on Sunday morning, about 100 nm southeast of Nishtun. According to UKMTO, the flooding could not be contained, and the master ordered the crew to abandon ship. They were rescued by a good samaritan vessel, and the vessel was left adrift at 14 31 N 053 08 E, about 130 nautical miles due south of the Yemeni-Omani border. 

UKMTO has not named the vessel involved, and described the casualty as a "SOLAS incident." The organization made no mention of a kinetic attack, and the incident site is located far from the high-risk area where Yemen's Houthi rebels have attacked merchant shipping. 

The Houthis have sunk two vessels and damaged dozens more since launching their anti-shipping campaign last fall. The group claimed two attempted attacks on Sunday: a drone boat attack on the bulker Transworld Navigator in the Red Sea, and a missile attack on the tanker Stolt Sequoia in the Indian Ocean. Both ships' last reported AIS signals were far away from Nishtun, suggesting that neither ship was the unnamed vessel that sustained flooding Sunday morning.

Spokesman Yahya Saree claimed that an unmanned drone boat attack on the Transworld Navigator succeeded in hitting the vessel. The claim could not be confirmed. 

UKMTO reported another, apparently distinct Houthi strike on the same day. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the agency issued a report of an unmanned aerial drone attack on a vessel about 65 nautical miles to the west of Houthi-controlled Hodeidah, in the Red Sea. The aerial drone caused unspecified damage to the unnamed vessel, but the crewmembers were all safe. The ship is continuing to its next port of call. 

U.S. Central Command has not addressed these reports, but on Saturday it reported a busy weekend for Houthi activity. American forces destroyed no fewer than three Houthi unmanned bomb boats in the Red Sea, and they detected the launch of three Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles. No hits were observed.

The rising number of explosive drone boats on the water could pose a serious risk to shipping. These improvised devices were responsible for the attack on the bulker Tutor earlier this month, which resulted in the death of a crewmember in the engine room. The survivors were rescued, but the vessel was ultimately lost.