As many as six people lost their lives, and ten others sustained injuries when rebels supported by Iran attacked a cargo ship with a ballistic missile strike, the coast guard and the transport ministry of Yemen have reported.
The attack was carried out on a Tanzanian cargo ship, Tihamah, that was carrying food commodities. The first wave of ballistic missiles was fired at the ship, leading to fires on board and killing four crew members, including three Pakistanis and one Indonesian sailor.
While rescue operations were underway to save the stranded crew, another round of attacks was conducted by the rebel groups using another round of missiles targeting the rescue operation.
This secondary bombardment killed two members of the government-allied Yemeni security forces participating in the search and rescue operation, while inflicting additional injuries on coastguard personnel and crew members.
Yemen’s Ministry of Transport strongly condemned the assault as a reckless act of maritime terrorism, warning that deliberate strikes on merchant vessels carrying basic food commodities pose a severe threat to regional food security and international trade routes. Government officials held the militia fully accountable for the destruction and loss of civilian life.
The incident marks the first confirmed fatalities from Houthi naval strikes since the group announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia last month. Maritime security analysts note that the escalation threatens to further paralysise commercial shipping through the Red Sea corridor, forcing vessel operators to divert around longer maritime routes.
This fatal escalation underscores the increasing instability across critical Middle Eastern shipping lanes. As regional tensions continue to surge, the deliberate targeting of civilian merchant vessels and emergency rescue operations threatens global commerce, elevates maritime insurance costs, and risks plunging vulnerable populations deeper into economic distress.
