Bulk carrier hit by missile from Yemen, crew says three killed
DUBAI: A missile fired by Yemen's Huthi rebels hit a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, with the crew reporting three people killed and at least four wounded, the US military said.
The Iran-backed Huthis have been targeting merchant vessels transiting the vital Red Sea trade route for months but Wednesday's deaths were the first reported fatalities resulting from such an attack.
An anti-ship ballistic missile struck the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned M/V True Confidence, after which its crew reported "three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship", the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
"The crew abandoned the ship and coalition warships responded and are assessing the situation," it said, noting the attack was the fifth time the Huthis had launched an anti-ship ballistic missile in two days.
"These reckless attacks by the Huthis have disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers," CENTCOM said.
The Indian Navy said, in a post on social media platform X, that it rescued 21 crew members, including an Indian national.
It published video footage of the rescue operation, saying eight people were winched to safety by helicopter while others were evacuated to hospitals in
Dijbouti.
The Philippine government's Department of Migrant Workers said in a statement on Thursday that two of the crew members killed were Filipinos and two others were "severely injured".
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on social media that the True Confidence was targeted with multiple missiles "after the ship's crew rejected warning messages" from the Huthis.
CENTCOM said several hours after the True Confidence was hit that it had carried out strikes against "two unmanned aerial vehicles in a Huthi-controlled area of Yemen that presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships".