Oil tanker that sparked fears of Red Sea spill gets salvaged

Oil tanker ‘Sounion’ burning in the Red Sea. Pic/AP

An oil tanker that burned for weeks in the Red Sea and threatened a massive oil spill has been "successfully" salvaged, a security firm said on Friday.

The ‘Sounion' had been a disaster in waiting in the waterway, with 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard that had been struck and later sabotaged with explosives by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. It took months for salvagers to tow the vessel away, extinguish the fires and offload the remaining crude oil. The Houthis initially attacked the Greek-flagged Sounion tanker on Aug 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides rescued its crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, after they abandoned the vessel and took them to nearby Djibouti.

The Houthis later released footage showing they planted explosives on board the Sounion and ignited them in a propaganda video. The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels since the war in Gaza started in October 2023.

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