On fire and adrift after being attacked by an unidentified explosive device. The Gulf of Aden is becoming increasingly turbulent. Last Monday the Minervagrach, a Dutch-flagged general cargo ship, was reportedly attacked for the second time in a week. The vessel’s hull was badly damaged. The captain was forced to request assistance from the international Aspides mission, the European Union naval operation launched to guarantee shipping safety in the Red Sea.
According to media reports, the 19 crew members were evacuated immediately and rescued by other vessels, where they received first aid. However, two of them reportedly suffered serious injuries at the time of the explosion.
The vessel had already been targeted on September 23rd while heading for Djibouti. The attack was not so violent as to prevent the Minervagracht from continuing its journey to its next scheduled port of call.
The ship called at the port of Djibouti on September 26th. Since then, nothing more is known about its position as it has deactivated its Automatic Identification System (AIS), perhaps to avoid being an easy target for the Houthis, who, following the escalation in Gaza, have intensified their punitive attacks on merchant ships linked to Israel.
However, the ship has no publicly known ties to Israel.
Translation by Giles Foster
