MV Rubymar Becomes First Ship To Sink By Houthi Attacks in Red Sea

Dubai – A UK-owned ship which was attacked by a Yemeni militant group, sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water. The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that the ship named MV Rubymar sank on Saturday at 2:15 am (local time). With this, MV Rubymar became the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of the rebel group's campaign against the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The Belize-flagged Rubymar drifted northward after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on February 18. The ship was struck in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is touted as the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving back and forth from Asia and the Middle East to Europe.

“On Mar. 2 at approximately 2:15 a.m., MV Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, sank in the Red Sea after being struck by an Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist anti-ship ballistic missile on Feb. 18,” CENTCOM wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. “The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea. As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway,” the statement further reads. The vessel was abandoned for 12 days after the attack. However, plans were being made to try and tow the ship to a safe port before it sunk. 

Ecological Concerns

In the past, CENTCOM has warned that the vessel's cargo of fertilizer, as well as fuel leaking from the ship, could cause major “ecological damage” to the Red Sea. Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, the prime minister of Yemen's internationally recognized government went on to call the ship's sinking "an unprecedented environmental disaster." "It's a new disaster for our country and our people," he wrote on X. “Every day, we pay for the Houthi militia's adventures, which were not stopped at plunging Yemen into the coup disaster and war,” he furthered. It is pertinent to note that the Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, after the militant group expelled the country's government. 

Despite multiple airstrikes conducted by the United States with the help of other Western nations, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. These attacks included strikes on the Rubymar and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The group has insisted that the attacks will continue until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip. However, the Red Sea has witnessed fewer attacks in recent days and the reason for that remains unclear.