A mine explosion damaged the Greek tanker MT Agari flying the Maltese flag on Wednesday off the Saudi coast near the city of Shukak. The explosion was reported by the British private security company Ambrey, stating that it was a mine. According to the AP, the company to which the tanker belongs stated that the ship was “attacked by an unknown source”.
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“The agari was hit about a meter below the waterline and the hull was punctured. It was confirmed that the crew is safe and no one was injured, “said the shipping company. The ship is still floating and Saudi officials have boarded it after the explosion. But Riyadh did not comment on the explosion.
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Ambrey’s field was attacked on the border of the port waters, where the ship unloaded cargo brought from Rotterdam for the local power plant.
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The Yemeni rebels may be behind the attack
It is not clear who was behind the attack, or if it was just an accident, when a tanker hit a torn mine, but on Tuesday an Arab coalition fighting the rebellious Yemeni Shiite Husse announced that it had removed five Iranian-made naval mines deployed in the Red Sea. . The coalition warned that the Shiites were “significantly threatening maritime security in the Bab al-Mandab Strait,” which connects the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea.
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On Monday, Yemeni Shiite insurgents hit a Saudi Aramco fuel tank in the port city of Jeddah during a rocket attack. No one was injured, but it burned on the spot and firefighters had to intervene. The Húsi attacked the Saudi Aramco refinery with rockets last autumn, and in the spring of last year they attacked several tankers in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz.
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Yemeni rebels are attacking Saudi ships, airports and oil infrastructure as Saudi Arabia complies with Yemeni President Abd Rabbú Mansour Hadi’s request for military support and Riyadh led an Arab coalition against the Husians in 2015. However, the war continues and the Saudis are criticized for their indiscriminate way of fighting, when their planes attack civilian objects and hospitals.
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