Tanker hit by Yemen’s Houthis in August now through Suez Canal, with environmental disaster averted

A Greek tanker set ablaze by Yemeni rebels with more than a million barrels of oil aboard has been safely towed through the Suez Canal, the waterway’s authority says.

“The oil tanker Sounion was successfully towed by four tugboats” through the Egyptian waterway and was now “heading to Greece,” Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie says in a statement.

The Sounion was attacked in the Red Sea last August by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, catching fire and losing power before its 25-member crew were rescued by a French frigate.

Its cargo could have created a catastrophic environmental disaster.

Had the Sounion broken up or exploded, it could have caused an oil spill four times larger than that caused by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 off Alaska, experts said at the time.

Houthis have attacked ships in the key commercial waterways of the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea with drones and missiles, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the United States and Britain.