An aerial photo showing the extent of the damage to the Rubimare ship and its leakage (French)

The crisis cell of the Yemeni government, which is responsible for dealing with the British cargo ship "MV Rubymar", announced that the ship sank yesterday evening, Friday, and the "Ansar Allah" Houthi group announced that it had targeted the ship - which carries combustible fertilizers - in the Gulf of Aden with a number of naval missiles on February 18. /Last February.

The Crisis Cell expressed in a statement issued today, Saturday, its regret that the ship sank in conjunction with the weather conditions and strong winds witnessed in the Red Sea, noting that its sinking will cause an environmental disaster in Yemeni territorial waters and the Red Sea, because it contains thousands of tons of inorganic fertilizers and fuel, according to international warnings. .

The Yemeni news agency (Saba), affiliated with the government, reported that the sinking of the ship "MV Rubimar" was expected, due to the ship - which is about 16 miles from the Yemeni mainland - being left to its fate for more than 12 days, and not responding to the Yemeni government's appeals to avoid the disaster.

The Yemeni government renewed its call to all countries and regional and international organizations concerned with preserving the marine environment to move quickly to save the Red Sea from an imminent environmental disaster, 12 days after the ship “Rubimar” - which flies the flag of Belize and is managed by a Lebanese company - ran aground as a result of its targeting. By the Houthis.

Warnings about the sinking of the Rubymar ship have been escalating for several days (social networking sites)

Targeting boats

A statement by the Yemeni Foreign Ministry stated that while the Yemeni government, through the Crisis Cell, was working to save the stricken ship to avoid an environmental disaster in the Red Sea, it was surprised by air attacks that targeted a boat of Yemeni fishermen near the stranded ship, which led to the death and loss of some fishermen and damage to the ship.

The statement added that the government confirms that this targeting, which is the second, complicates rescue efforts and endeavors, and threatens a large-scale environmental catastrophe, noting that abandoning the ship to its fate will lead to serious damage to the marine environment and hundreds of thousands of Yemenis who depend on marine fishing, in addition to Damage that may reach seawater desalination plants along the Yemeni coast.

Last Wednesday, the governor of Hodeidah, western Yemen, Al-Hassan Taher, warned that the ship Rubymar would sink after it ran aground near the western coast of Yemen.

On the same day, the British Embassy in Yemen said via the X platform that the Rubimare ship was at risk of an (oil) leak in the Red Sea, without further details.

In solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been facing a devastating Israeli war for about 5 months, the Houthis targeted, with missiles and drones, Israeli cargo ships or those heading to Israel in the Red Sea, and the Houthi group confirmed the continuation of their operations until the end of the war on the Strip.

Since the beginning of this year, the “Guardian of Prosperity” coalition, led by Washington, has launched raids that it says target Houthi sites in various regions of Yemen, in response to its attacks in the Red Sea, which was met with a response from the group from time to time.

With the intervention of Washington and London and the tensions taking a noticeable escalation trend last January, Al-Houthi announced that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets.

Over the past weeks, the city of Hodeidah and other areas in Yemen have been subjected to a large number of American and British raids, in an attempt to limit the capabilities of the Houthis.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies