Crippled British bulk carrier remains abandoned in Red Sea as pollution fears mount
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Crippled British bulk carrier Rubymar (pictured here in the Black Sea in 2022), badly damaged in a missile strike by Houthi rebels more than a week ago, remains at anchor but abandoned in the Red Sea waiting to be towed to a port as fears grow of a pollution catastrophe. (File Photo by Tolga Bozoglu/EPA-EFE)
Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A British bulk carrier badly damaged in a missile strike by Houthi rebels more than a week ago remains at anchor but abandoned in the Red Sea waiting to be towed to a port as fears grow of a pollution catastrophe.
The Feb. 18 strike on the Rubymar, which is awaiting towing to the Saudi Arabian Port of Jeddah after the nearby ports of Djibouti and Aden refused to accept it, caused an 18-mile oil slick with concern now mounting over its cargo of fertilizer, according to U.S. Central Command.
"The M/V Rubymar was transporting over 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it was attacked, which could spill into the Red Sea and worsen this environmental disaster," CENTCOM said.
The crew abandoned ship when it began taking on water after being targeted by two missiles, one of which badly damaged the engine room, as it was transiting the 20-mile-wide Bab al-Mandab Strait 35 miles south of the Yemeni port city of Al Mukha.
Athens, Greece-headquartered shipping broker Blue Fleet Group told CNBC that the semi-submerged vessel was awaiting assistance from the U.S. Navy to tow it to Jeddah but had no information about the oil spillage.
The International Maritime Organization said it was closely monitoring the situation.
"Oil being a highly toxic substance means that any oil spill has adverse impacts on the surrounding environment and communities, the degree of which depends on several factors such as the quantity released and the sea current," said Greenpeace spokesman Julien Jreissati.
"In the case of Rubymar, beyond the oil leakage coming from the engine room, another risk originates from its potential fertilizer cargo."
Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi-run communications ministry rejected reports carried by Israeli media the country's forces may be behind damage to international undersea fiber-optic cables.
Sixteen of the lines running beneath the Red Sea carry almost a fifth of global data traffic, mostly between Europe and India and East Asia.
The Yemeni government warned of the threat from the Iran-backed rebels earlier this month.
The United States and Britain have been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi military targets since the middle of last month, most recently overnight Saturday, but do not appear to have reduced the group's capacity to target shipping and Western assets in the region.
The Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea -- 45 according to the U.S. Defense Department -- since announcing in November its intention to show solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting Israeli shipping and any vessel bound for Israeli ports.
The group has since added American and British shipping to its list of legitimate targets after the allies embarked on large-scale airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Jan. 11.
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