Houthis mistakenly target tanker carrying Russian oil: Ambrey report
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People shout slogans and hold up weapons n Sana'a, Yemen,, during a protest against a multinational operation to safeguard Red Sea shipping following US and UK airstrikes on Houthis military site.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
CAIRO - Houthi militants mistakenly targeted a tanker carrying Russian oil in a missile attack on Jan 12 off Yemen, British maritime security firm Ambrey said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said it had received a report of a missile being fired 90 nautical miles south-east of Yemen's port city of Aden.
"The master reported a missile landing in the water 400-500 metres away, and being followed by three small craft," the UKMTO advisory note said, adding that there were no injuries or damage.
Ambrey said: "This was the second tanker mistakenly targeted by the Houthis whilst carrying Russian oil."
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants, who control much of Yemen, have launched wave after wave of exploding drones and missiles at Western commercial vessels in the Red Sea
The United States and Britain carried out strikes from the air and sea
"A Panama-flagged tanker sighted three skiffs while transiting eastbound through the International Recommended Transit Corridor," the Ambrey report said, adding that the vessel reported a missile hitting the water.
Ambrey assessed that the vessel was mistakenly targeted based on outdated publicly available information linking the vessel to the United Kingdom.
"This appeared to be five months old but was still listed as UK-affiliated on a public maritime database," the report said. REUTERS
