The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority said late on Friday that a commercial ship reported explosions in its vicinity 126 nautical miles east of the Yemeni coastal city of Aden.
The British Authority did not identify the ship, but stated that the explosions occurred “near” it, but it was able to continue its journey.
It stated in an advisory note that “the ship’s crew has been reported safe and is sailing towards the next port.”
This comes as Fox News quoted an informed source that the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower will leave the Red Sea, and its place will be replaced by the aircraft carrier Roosevelt.
European leagues
In a related context, the Commander of the European Coalition in the Red Sea, Admiral Vassilios Gribaris, said that the force deployed by the European Union to protect ships in the Red Sea needs to be increased by more than double due to the escalation of attacks launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the region.
Gribaris indicated in an interview with Bloomberg News Agency yesterday, Friday, that there are not enough assets to cover this vast area, stressing that he is pressuring all member states to provide more assets.
He noted that coalition ships provided “close assistance” to 164 ships, shot down more than 12 drones, and destroyed four anti-ship missiles.
Four European Union ships have been patrolling the waters off the coast of Yemen since last February.
It should be noted that the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) has been targeting with missiles and drones since last November cargo ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, as part of its solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which is subjected to an Israeli war with American support for the eighth month in a row.
In response to the group’s attacks, a US-led coalition has launched raids since the beginning of this year that it says target “Houthi sites” in various regions of Yemen.
With the intervention of Washington and London, the Houthi group announced last January that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets, and required stopping its attacks as an end to the war on Gaza.