At least four crew members were killed when Houthi militants struck the Egyptian-owned cargo ship Tihamah with three ballistic missiles near the Bab el-Mandeb strait on 11 August, Yemen's transport ministry said. The strikes ignited a fire aboard the Tanzania-flagged vessel, killing three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian, the ministry confirmed.
The Yemeni Navy deployed to assist the burning ship but came under fire during the rescue operation, suffering at least one additional fatality, according to maritime risk firm Vanguard Tech. If confirmed, the incident would mark the first deadly Houthi strike on shipping since the conflict with Iran began in late February.
The attack follows the collapse of Yemen's civil war truce last month and a Houthi-declared naval blockade of Saudi ports. In a separate incident, the US military destroyed the steering gear of a Panama-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Oman with two Hellfire missiles, US Central Command said.