U.S. Navy responds to call message about seized oil tanker in Gulf of Aden, two officials tell Reuters

A U.S. Navy ship responded to a distress call from the chemical tanker USS Central Park and confirmed it was safe, two U.S. officials said.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity added that the Mason helped ensure the safety of the tanker.

Earlier, a U.S. defense official said that unidentified gunmen were believed to have seized the oil tanker “Central Park” in the Gulf of Aden yesterday.

LSEG data showed the small tanker was operated by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime Limited, a London-based international ship management company.

The maritime security company “Embry” announced that an entity (without specifying its name) boarded an oil tanker belonging to a British company “with ties to Israel” (the Israeli Ofer family) off the coast of Yemen near Aden, which the company said it believed The incident is related to political factors.

Navigation data shows that the “Central Park” oil tanker departed from the port of Safi, Morocco on November 12, but the final destination was not announced.

The data also showed that the ship turned off its tracking device at around 1pm Mecca time (10am GMT) after passing through the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea on November 22 and was not seen again. after that.

“Novove” quoted Zodiac as saying that the ship hijacked in Yemen was carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid, noting that a crisis management team had been appointed at its London headquarters.

The incident came after the Houthis targeted a ship the day before yesterday, Friday, and seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the southern Red Sea last week.

The Houthis announced that they would target all ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or flying the Israeli flag, “given that the Gaza Strip is suffering from brutal aggression by Israel and the United States and massacres and genocide are occurring every day,” they said.

Weeks after Israel began its invasion of Gaza on October 7, the Houthis announced that they would launch multiple ballistic missiles and drones at targets in Israel, and the group’s leader, Abdul-Malik Houthi, also threatened to target targets in Israel. ship. Red Sea and Manderman Gate.