The extinguishing of the fires on the Greek-flagged tanker “Sounion”, which has been moved to a safe location off Eritrea, has been successfully completed.
According to “Naftemporiki” sources, at least 20 fires were raging on the tanker, which carries 150,000 tons of oil, while fuel inactivation (Inert Gas System) was carried out in order to suppress any possible combustion of flammable gases.
At the same time, the sealing of the openings caused by the Houthi explosives has been concluded, while its cargo will be transferred to another tanker that will arrive at the site.
The tanker was off the coast of Yemen and was moved 50 nautical miles away by the lifeboat “Aigaion Pelagos”, which had a specialist team on board.
The Greek-flagged tanker was first attacked by the Houthis on Wednesday, August 21, with its 25-member crew (23 Filipinos and two Russians) being taken the next day by a French destroyer to safety in Djibouti.
The new incident
Meanwhile, sources from the Ministry of Shipping told “Naftemporiki” that the 76,800-dwt Greek cargo ship Minoan Courage (built 2013), which was hit by a Houthi missile off the coast of Yemen last week, also managed to move away from the danger zone of the Red Sea by its own means and is today safe in the Gulf of Suez. No one from the ship’s crew was injured in the attack.
Referring to the recent attacks against ships in the Red Sea region, the secretary general of the IMO, Arsenio Dominguez, spoke of acts that put human lives at risk, while adding that they also constitute a significant environmental threat with potentially catastrophic consequences for the countries of the region.
