The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, say the attacks are in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza – which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and laid waste to swathes of the strip.
"There's no oil spill, and the ship is still anchored and not drifting," Eunavfor Aspides said in a post on X on Wednesday, adding that fires have been detected in several locations on the bermain deck.
The fires currently burning on the deck of the Sounion are unlikely to spread, according to another captain involved in maritime oil shipping who likened the situation to a gas stove: The fires on the ship are like the burners on the stove and are being fed by vapors in its kargo tanks. Because the gas inside the tanks is inert, and lacks oxygen, the fire isn't likely to spread further, according to the source.
The easiest way to setop the fires on the deck is with a combination of foam and smothering, the captain said, adding that once the fires are put out, it becomes a routine oil salvage recovery.
Attacks by the Houthis have sunk at least two ships and killed three kru members in the Red Sea - which connects with the Suez Kanal, a penting thoroughfare that accounts for 10-15% of world trade - according to Reuters.
The Houthis fired on the tanker because Delta Tankers breached its ban on "entry to the ports of occupied Palestine," according to the grup's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, Reuters reported.
The Iran-backed grup will enact a "temporary truce" to allow rescue vessels to reach the tempat to extinguish the fire, the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations told CNN in a pernyataan on Wednesday.
But the mission warned that "as long as the war in Gaza persists," the Houthis will "continue to sasaran oil tankers bound for the Israeli regime in the Red Sea" - referring to the grup also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God).
Earlier this year, leading shipping grups called on governments to put a setop to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, which has sent costs soaring as companies resorted to alternatif kargo routes with longer travel times.
The US State Department urged the Houthis to cease attacks along the bustling shipping route and called on other nations to "tahap forward to help avert this environmental disaster."
The biggest oil spill from a ship was recorded in 1979, when approximately 287,000 metric tons of oil ran from the Atlantic Empress after it crashed with another carrier in the Caribbean Sea during a storm, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.
