The crew of a commercial ship in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel following a Houthi attack – the first such evacuation since the militant group began menacing trade in the vital waterway late last year.

Two-anti ship ballistic missiles damaged the Belize-flagged Rubymar on Sunday evening local time, US Central Command said Monday on social media platform X. A coalition warship and another merchant ship responded to the distress call, and the Rubymar’s crew were transported to a nearby port, it added.

Since November, the Houthis have escalated their attacks off the coast of Yemen with missiles and drone strikes on the merchant fleet. The Iran-backed group says they are targeting ships with links to Israel, the US and UK – their response to the war in Gaza and western airstrikes that have sought to quell the attacks.

The Rubymar is a relatively small cargo ship. Its registered owner is in Southampton, England, according to the Equasis international maritime database.

A Houthi spokesman said in a statement that an attack on an unidentified British ship resulted in its “complete sinking” – a claim that could not be verified independently.

Centcom didn’t mention in its statement whether the Rubymar had sunk, and the vessel’s owner didn’t respond to an earlier request for comment. UK Maritime Trade Operations had no further updates on the incident.

Earlier, a company official at GMZ Ship Management Co. in Lebanon said the attacks on the vessel occurred in the engine room and the front of the ship. There were no reports of injuries to the crew, who were being taken to Djibouti, the official said.

About 12% of global trade – and as much as 30% of container traffic – passes through the Suez Canal, at the other end of the Red Sea, each year. In order to avoid the attacks, a significant percentage of the world’s oil and gas carriers, bulk commodity ships and container vessels are now sailing thousands of miles around Africa, adding to voyage times and boosting costs to world shipping.

Also on Monday, another ship reported two nearby explosions, with evidence of shrapnel and damage to paintwork, though it continued to its next port of call. Maritime intelligence company Ambrey described the ship as a Greece-flagged bulk commodity carrier.

The Houthis said in their statement that they had also targeted two other vessels, though specific details couldn’t immediately be verified.

The European Union formally launched a defensive naval operation Monday aimed at protecting commercial vessels from Houthi attacks. The mission, commanded by Greece, will accompany some ships and protect them against attacks from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the Persian Gulf.

Over the weekend, the US said it conducted five self-defense strikes against the Houthis, including one against an underwater vessel. Central Command said it was the first observed deployment of subsea attack capability since the attacks began.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Shipments of diesel from India into Europe are at the lowest since 2022 so far this month as Houthi attacks on merchant shipping continue to disrupt international trade, driving more cargoes to Asia.

Flows to the European Union and UK plunged as higher freight costs stoked by the ongoing turmoil in the Red Sea, as well as unplanned refinery maintenance in Asia, made trade economics better for sending cargoes east rather than west.

Arrivals of fuel from India into Europe averaged just 18,000 barrels a day in the first two weeks of February, a plunge of more than 90% compared with January’s average, according to data from Vortexa Ltd., compiled by Bloomberg. The drop partly stemmed from the higher costs of shipping to the west last month, according to James Noel-Beswick, an analyst at Sparta Commodities.

“The economics to export east – Singapore region – were a lot better than those west,” Noel-Beswick said. Tankers heading to Europe or the Atlantic Basin are being forced by the Houthi threat to go around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, increasing journey lengths and costs, or use the Suez Canal, “with the risks involved and extremely high war risk insurance.”

There were no imports of diesel-type fuel into the EU in the first two weeks of February and only one shipment into the UK, according to the data. However, the Marlin Sicily and Marlin La Plata recently loaded barrels in India and are headed for Rotterdam, with the former signaling arrival later this month, according to port report and tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Elsewhere, arrivals of diesel-type fuel from India to Asian destinations – including some cargoes into Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh – surged in the first two weeks of the month. More cargoes, on vessels such as the Peace Victoria and Orange Victoria, are sailing toward East Asia.

Better arbitrage economics should mean an increase in exports of diesel from India to the European region in the coming weeks, Noel-Beswick said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The first full-length trailer of Operation Valentine is out. Directed by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, the film features Varun Tej and Manushi Chhillar in an aerial action thriller.

The trailer of Operation Valentine opens with Varun Tej’s Arjun “Rudra” Dev who wakes up from a bad dream. We then see his life as a pilot for the Indian Air Force. We also get a glimpse of Manushi Chhillar’s Aahana in uniform. The two embark on a mission to save their country.

Watch the trailer here:

Along with plenty of aerial action shots, the trailer also hints at the love story between Rudra and Sonal, offering a closer look at the lead stars’ chemistry.

The official synopsis reads, “#OperationValentine is a patriotic, edge-of-the-seat entertainer and will showcase our Air Force heroes on the front lines and the challenges they faced as they fought one of the biggest, fiercest aerial attacks that India has ever seen.” 

Operation Valentine which also features Navdeep, Ruhani Sharma and Mir Sarwar,  will release in theatres on March 1, 2024.