Crew deaths in Red Sea attack as missile strike hits Gulf vessel

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Four crew members were killed ​in an attack by Iran-backed Houthis on a small cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Tuesday, Yemen's transport ministry said, ‌while sources reported a missile attack on a container ship off Pakistan in a suspected U.S. strike.

The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah, if confirmed, would mark the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began on February 28. The Houthis have not claimed the attack.

Three Pakistanis and one Indonesian were killed, the Yemeni ministry said, ​adding the crew lost control of the vessel after being attacked.

Three coastguard personnel were injured after being targeted by a drone while ​trying to rescue the crew, Yemeni military sources said.
The Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in the Red ⁠Sea on July 20 in response to what they described as a Saudi siege. Riyadh denies that Yemen is under siege.

The ship was hit by ​an unknown projectile, according to a report received by the British navy-affiliated agency UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

The incident occurred while the ship was at anchor northeast ​of Perim Island, Yemen, British maritime security group Ambrey said.

Separately, the Panama-flagged container ship Vela Nova was struck by a missile in an attack off Pakistan while sailing into the Gulf of Oman, maritime security sources told Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal reported the vessel was attacked by a U.S. helicopter which fired a Hellfire missile at the ship's rudder ​after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade of Iran-linked shipping in the region.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. Central Command.

If confirmed, it would ​be the 12th vessel attacked by U.S. forces since its blockade was announced in April and the third since the blockade was reimposed on July 14.
The ship recently ‌made port ⁠calls in Mumbai and Port Klang, Malaysia, where Iran-linked ships have also been spotted, said Charlie Brown, senior advisor at U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which monitors Iran-related tanker traffic using ship and satellite tracking.

"The reported U.S. disabling and stopping of the Panama-flagged Vela Nova near the blockade line in the Gulf of Oman, after its recent Mumbai port call alongside these vessels, underscores the heightened scrutiny now being applied to Iran-related shipping," he said.

The ship ​was believed to have been hit some ​71 nautical miles off Pakistan's coast, ⁠UK maritime risk management group Vanguard said.

Shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Red Sea has fallen by more than 50% since an earlier wave of Houthi attacks on shipping in 2023-25.

They have fallen further since the ​Houthis announced their blockade last month, with an average of 32 ships per day passing through the strait last ​week, according to ⁠Kpler data, down from an average of 50 before the blockade.

Ambrey noted that the cargo ship, which sources said was the Tihamah, was not Saudi-owned or operated and that it had departed the Yemeni government-held port of al-Mokha on Saturday.

LSEG data lists Egyptian companies as owners and managers of the ship. Neither responded to Reuters ⁠emails and ​phone calls seeking immediate comment.

Traffic is even more disrupted in the Strait of Hormuz with just ​six passing through on Monday, down from a 10-day average of about 11 and prewar levels of some 130 to 140.