Aug 4 (Reuters) – A projectile struck an Indian-flagged vessel near Yemen, causing it to capsize and sink, but all 14 seafarers on board were rescued, India’s shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday in a post on X.
The crew members, including 13 Indians, were rescued by the Yemeni Coast Guard and taken to the Port of Mokha, Sonowal said after the commercial vessel, MSV Faize Noore Oliya, sank in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s transportation ministry, part of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, accused Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis of carrying out the attack by using an explosive-laden boat.
There was no comment from the group.
Red Sea traffic has been disrupted off the coast of Yemen by the Houthis, who want to blockade Saudi exports, expanding the U.S.-Iran conflict that has already choked oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz.
India’s Foreign Ministry said it is coordinating with Yemeni authorities.
Indian refiners have switched to cargoes from the Middle East on a delivered basis since the Houthi attacks on several Saudi tankers.
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona and Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru and Mohammed Ghobari; Editing by Alison Williams, Nick Zieminski and David Gaffen)
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