Fire on Trafigura-chartered tanker hit by Houthi missile

Source:UKMTO

The U.K. Maritime Trade Office (UKMTO) reports that a vessel was struck when 60 nautical miles southeast of Aden and, as of 16.42 UTC was on fire.

The vessel is identified in multiple reports as the Marshall Islands flagged, U.K.-owned tanker Marlin Luanda.

The BBC reports that the vessel was on charter to Trafigura and quotes the company as saying the strike caused a fire in one of the ship’s cargo tanks and that firefighting equipment was being used to contain it.

U.S. officials told the BBC’s U.S. partner CBS that the tanker was hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile and a naval ship was responding to its distress signal.