THE campaign of attacks by Yemen's Houthis on commercial ships claimed its first fatalities last Wednesday when a strike on a Barbados-flagged dry bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden left three seafarers dead and four injured.
The death toll on the True Confidence, sold days ago by US private equity group Oaktree Capital, came in a statement from the US military's central command (Centcom). The Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack hours earlier, reports London's Financial Times.
While the Houthis have attacked more than 40 ships since the start of their campaign in November, there had previously been no serious injuries to mariners. The most serious previous assault, on February 19, led to the sinking of the dry bulk carrier Rubymar. Its crew all abandoned ship safely.
Centcom wrote on the social media platform X that an anti-ship ballistic missile had been launched towards the True Confidence at 11.30am local time.
'The missile struck the vessel, and the multinational crew reports three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship,' it said.
The Houthis' official spokesman, Yahya Sare'e, claimed the attack, calling the True Confidence an 'American ship'.
Mr Sare'e renewed the claim by the group, which has Iranian backing, to be acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
The US condemned the attack on the True Confidence and urged other countries to do the same and join Washington in helping to bring the continuing attacks to an end.
According to a statement from the ship's managers, the vessel had a crew of 15 Filipinos, four Vietnamese and one Indian. There were also three security guards - two Sri Lankans and one Nepalese.
The vessel is owned by True Confidence SA, registered in Liberia and managed by Third January Maritime, based in the Greek port of Piraeus. It was owned until a few days ago by Oaktree, which is still listed on many maritime databases as the vessel's owner.
A picture posted by Centcom of the vessel showed the missile had inflicted severe damage to the accommodation block housing crew cabins.
The ship, which was carrying a cargo of steel products and trucks from the Chinese port of Lianyungang to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Aqaba in Jordan, was flying the flag of Barbados.
SeaNews Turkey
The death toll on the True Confidence, sold days ago by US private equity group Oaktree Capital, came in a statement from the US military's central command (Centcom). The Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack hours earlier, reports London's Financial Times.
While the Houthis have attacked more than 40 ships since the start of their campaign in November, there had previously been no serious injuries to mariners. The most serious previous assault, on February 19, led to the sinking of the dry bulk carrier Rubymar. Its crew all abandoned ship safely.
Centcom wrote on the social media platform X that an anti-ship ballistic missile had been launched towards the True Confidence at 11.30am local time.
'The missile struck the vessel, and the multinational crew reports three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship,' it said.
The Houthis' official spokesman, Yahya Sare'e, claimed the attack, calling the True Confidence an 'American ship'.
Mr Sare'e renewed the claim by the group, which has Iranian backing, to be acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
The US condemned the attack on the True Confidence and urged other countries to do the same and join Washington in helping to bring the continuing attacks to an end.
According to a statement from the ship's managers, the vessel had a crew of 15 Filipinos, four Vietnamese and one Indian. There were also three security guards - two Sri Lankans and one Nepalese.
The vessel is owned by True Confidence SA, registered in Liberia and managed by Third January Maritime, based in the Greek port of Piraeus. It was owned until a few days ago by Oaktree, which is still listed on many maritime databases as the vessel's owner.
A picture posted by Centcom of the vessel showed the missile had inflicted severe damage to the accommodation block housing crew cabins.
The ship, which was carrying a cargo of steel products and trucks from the Chinese port of Lianyungang to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Aqaba in Jordan, was flying the flag of Barbados.
SeaNews Turkey