An India-flagged merchant vessel with 25 crew members has been targeted by a drone while sailing through the Red Sea on Saturday, Indian Navy officials told media on Sunday.
The Indian Navy said that all the 25 Indian sailors were safe. India is yet to issue an official statement to the attacks.
The reported statement came hours after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that M/V Saibaba, the Gabon-owned, India-flagged crude tanker was hit by a drone strike by Houthis in the Red Sea.
The US statement claimed that besides Indian vessel Saibaba, “a Norwegian-flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil tanker, reported a near miss of a Houthi one-way attack drone with no injuries or damage reported”.
The CENTCOM claimed that USS Laboon, which has been patrolling the Red Sea as part of Washington-led naval taskforce Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), responded to “distress calls” by the two merchant vessels at around 8 PM (Yemen time).
It said that anti-ballistic missiles were also launched towards the USS Laboon, but they were shot down.
The US alleged that the drone attacks on the merchant vessels represented 14th and 15th attacks from Yemen’s Houthi-led government since 17 October.
Yemen’s armed forces haven’t claimed the purported drone attacks till now.
The Yemen Armed Forces vowed this month to “prevent navigation of vessels heading to Israel till enough food and medicine” was allowed into Gaza by Israel, according to an official statement.