By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com
The Iran-aligned Houthis have agreed to allow salvage crews including rescue ships and tugboats to access an oil tanker that the Houthis hit with a missile in the Red Sea earlier this month.
“Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis), requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area," Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said, as carried by Reuters.
The Houthi movement has agreed to this request, “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” the Iranian mission to the UN added.
Reports last week said a tanker on fire was drifting in the Red Sea. It later emerged that the vessel had come under attack by armed groups traveling on small vessels some 90 miles from the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. The tanker was also reportedly struck by missiles or drones.
“The vessel reports being not under command,” the UK Maritime Trade Operations office said at the time, likely meaning it lost all power. “No casualties reported.”
The Greek-flagged oil tanker, the Sounion, had 25 crew members and was traveling from Iraq to Cyprus. The crew was rescued by a European warship and transported to Djibouti.
Earlier this week, U.S. Pentagon officials said that the Greek tanker that the Yemeni Houthis struck in the Red Sea a week ago is now leaking oil.
“The MV Sounion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea, where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil, presenting both a navigational hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe,” Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder said, as quoted by the Maritime Executive.
The oil tanker holds close to a million barrels of crude oil and if it spills as a result of the strikes, it could become one of the largest oil spills from a vessel in recent history.
