DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An oil tanker that burned for weeks in the Red Sea and threatened a massive oil spill has been “successfully” salvaged, a security firm says.
The Sounion had been a disaster in waiting in the waterway, with 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard. It had been struck and later sabotaged with explosives by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, taking months for salvagers to tow the vessel away, extinguish the fires and offload the remaining crude oil.
The Houthis initially attacked the Greek-flagged Sounion tanker on August 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides rescued its crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel after they abandoned the vessel and took them to nearby Djibouti.
The Houthis later released footage showing they planted explosives on board the Sounion and ignited them in a propaganda video, something the Iran-backed group has done before in its campaign.
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