Greece to begin towing oil tanker struck by Houthis near Yemen on August 21

Greece’s coastguard says that it will soon begin towing an oil tanker abandoned near Yemen after it was struck by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on August 21.

The Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion was hit by missiles off the coast of Hodeida on August 21 while carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil.

Damage to the vessel had threatened a Red Sea oil spill four times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.

“Two tugboats have left the port of Piraeus and are now near the Sounion,” escorted by a Greek and a French warship, the Greek coastguard says.

The Sounion’s crew, made up of 23 Filipinos and two Russians, was rescued the day after the attack by a French frigate serving with the European Union’s Red Sea naval mission, Aspides.

The EU naval force was formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthi rebels, who since November have waged a campaign against international shipping that they claim is an act of solidarity with the Hamas terror group in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Since November, the Houthi attacks have resulted in the sinking of two ships and the deaths of at least four crew members.