Yemeni gov't taking measures to 'safely tow' British ship hit by Houthi missile

The Yemeni government said Monday that it is making arrangements to "safely tow" a British cargo ship that was hit on Feb. 18 in the Gulf of Aden by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthi group.

Yemeni Water and Environment Minister Tawfeeq Al-Sharjabi made the statement at a press conference in the temporary capital Aden, the Saba state news agency reported.

He said arrangements are being made with concerned bodies, without specifying them, to safely pull the ship from Yemeni territorial waters.

Al-Sharjabi added that the Yemeni government is making efforts to deal with all possible scenarios that may result from the stricken ship.

The Yemeni government's efforts come after the US warned on Saturday of the heightened risk of an environmental disaster if the Rubymar, which is leaking fuel and taking on water, were to sink.

“The unprovoked and reckless attack by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists caused significant damage to the ship, which caused an 18-mile oil slick,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Friday.

"The MV Rubymar was transporting over 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it was attacked, which could spill into the Red Sea and worsen the environmental disaster," it added.

On Saturday, the Houthi group said it would allow the Rubymar, which it said had sunk in the Gulf of Aden, to be salvaged in exchange for bringing relief aid into the Gaza Strip.

“The sunken British ship could be towed in exchange for bringing relief trucks into Gaza,” Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi, a member of the group's Supreme Political Council, said in a statement on X.

The Houthis have been targeting cargo ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden owned or operated by Israeli companies or transporting goods to and from Israel in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli onslaught since Oct. 7.

With tensions escalating due to joint strikes by the US and UK against Houthi targets in Yemen, the group declared that it considered all American and British ships legitimate military targets.