6 weeks after being attacked… Loading 40,000 tons of fertilizer, etc.
Buried communication cables in the Red Sea area are also dangerous.
The British cargo ship ‘Rubimar’, which gradually sank after being attacked by Yemen’s Shiite rebels ‘Houthi’ in the Red Sea area about six weeks ago, sank completely on the 2nd. There are also many voices concerned about environmental pollution in the area due to the 41,000 tons of fertilizer on board as well as the various oils that leaked from the sunken ship. The Red Sea area is famous for a variety of marine life, including rare coral reefs.
According to the U.S. military’s Central Command on the 3rd, the Rubimar, which was attacked by the Houthis on January 19, completely capsized and sank a day ago. She said at the time the ship was heading from the United Arab Emirates to Bulgaria carrying fertilizer. Immediately after the attack her crew abandoned her ship and took refuge in her neighboring country of Djibouti. There were no casualties, but her ship sank. This is the first time that a civilian ship from another country has been sunk due to a Houthi attack since the outbreak of the Middle East war in October last year.
Undersea communication cables buried in the Red Sea area are also at risk due to the Houthis’ continued attacks. Three submarine cables in this area were already damaged on the 24th of last month. As a result, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 2nd that Internet connections in some countries, including East Africa, India, and Pakistan, have become unstable. Some telecommunications experts believe that the sinking of the Ruby Mare also played a role in the cable damage. Sicom, a telecommunications company in Mauritius, an East African island nation that owns the damaged cable, said, “Repair cannot begin until April at the earliest.”
The Houthis, who are anti-American and anti-Israel and supported by Iran, supported the Palestinian armed group Hamas after the outbreak of the Middle East war and attacked civilian ships in major Western countries, causing a logistics crisis from the Red Sea. The Houthis take issue with the fact that these countries are siding with Israel.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.