DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A French destroyer rescued 29 mariners from an oil tanker that came under repeated attack in the Red Sea, officials said Thursday, while also destroying a bomb-carrying drone boat in the area.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels are suspected to have carried out the assault on the Sounion, now abandoned in the waterway. The attack, the most serious in the Red Sea in weeks, comes during a monthslong campaign by Houthis targeting ships over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that has disrupted a trade route through which $1 trillion in cargo typically passes each year.
The Sounion is now at anchor in the Red Sea and no longer drifting, the European Union’s Operation Aspides said. However, it wasn’t clear if the vessel was still ablaze. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who have been taken to nearby Djibouti, the EU mission in the Red Sea said.
“Carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, the MV Sounion now represents a navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned. “It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.”
Military officials did not name the French destroyer involved in the rescue. The Sounion also had not asked for an escort prior to the attacks, the EU mission said.
In the attack Wednesday, men on small boats…
