UK 'reserves right to respond' after oil tanker set alight off Yemen [View all]

Source: The Guardian

UK ‘reserves right to respond’ after oil tanker set alight off Yemen

Houthis claim their naval forces targeted Marlin Luanda in Gulf of Aden

Tom Ambrose and agency
Fri 26 Jan 2024 23.36 GMT
First published on Fri 26 Jan 2024 20.35 GMT

The UK government has said Britain and its allies “reserve the right to respond appropriately” after an oil tanker was struck and set alight off coast of Yemen.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed their naval forces carried out an operation targeting what they described as the “British oil tanker Marlin Luanda” in the Gulf of Aden. Shipping data suggests the vessel sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

They used “appropriate naval missiles, the strike was direct”, the Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement.

Commodities group Trafigura said the vessel was operated on its behalf.

The company, which has offices in Britain, said firefighting equipment on board was being deployed to control the flames and that the safety of the crew was its “foremost priority”.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/vessel-on-fire-after-being-struck-off-coast-of-yemen-amid-houthi-threats


The Marlin Luanda oil tanker was hit off the coast of Yemen (Frank Findler)