Casualties reported after ship hit in Red Sea: maritime agency

An "unknown projectile" struck a cargo vessel near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen, causing an unspecified number of casualties, a British maritime agency reported Tuesday.

"It has been reported that a cargo vessel in the southern Red Sea has been hit by an unknown projectile resulting in casualties," the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.

The statement came as a Yemeni coastguard source in the southern city of Mokha said a ship near the strait had been struck by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, killing three members of the crew.

"We managed to rescue the rest of the crew," the source added.

A second source confirmed the incident, saying the ship had also been struck by a second projectile during the rescue operation, but that source did not provide the number of casualties.

The attack comes after a years-long truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government collapsed last month as fighting flared between Iran and the United States.

The breakdown of the UN-backed 2022 accord came as the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and the kingdom's oil infrastructure, in parallel with Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.