After being hit by two ballistic missiles on Feb. 20, the crew of the British-owned bulk carrier Rubymar abandoned ship. Nearly two weeks later, their vessel has sunk.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree announced that the Rubymar suffered “catastrophic damage” following last month’s strike in the Bab al Mandab Straight. In a statement posted on X, Saree said the terrorist group “made sure the ship’s crew exited safely.”
Over the course of the next 11 days, the ship spilled oil into the approach towards the Red Sea and Suez Canal. On Saturday, it sank, carrying with it over 40,000 tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer to the seabed, sparking concerns about the distinct possibility of an ecological catastrophe. (RELATED: Watch US Forces Bomb Foreign Capital)
The New York Times continues:
The ship also poses a “subsurface impact risk” to other ships moving through the area, a busy international shipping lane, the Central Command said.
The Rubymar was an “environmental disaster” even before sinking because the attack created an 18-mile oil slick, Central Command warned last month. It said that the disaster could worsen if the fertilizer were to spill into the sea.
No other details about the sinking, or the risks it posed to the environment or to commercial shipping, were immediately available on Sunday morning. The Rubymar sailed with a Belize flag. The ship’s operator, Blue Fleet Group, based in Greece, did not respond to an inquiry.
After the attack last month, the Rubymar’s 24 crew members were taken to Djibouti by a vessel operated by a French shipping company. Djibouti port officials said at the time that the crew members were from Syria, Egypt, India and the Philippines.
U.S.-led airstrikes continue targeting Houthi positions in Yemen. Critics of the administration maintain that the tit-for-tat response will only degrade but not deter the Houthis and other Iranian proxies.
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