A cargo ship struck last month by a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea, the US Central Command said Saturday.
The sinking of the Rubymar, which was carrying 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer, presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea, according to US Central Command.
“As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway,” it added.
The M/V Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, had been slowly taking on water since February 18, when it was struck by one of two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi territory in Yemen.
Days later, it created an 18-mile long oil slick in the Red Sea.
The damage sustained by the Rubymar is potentially the most significant to a vessel caused by an attack launched by the Iran-backed Houthis, who have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea for months.
The attacks on one of the world’s most important shipping routes have upended global trade and stoked fears of a wider regional conflict months into the Israel-Hamas war.
