Oil tanker with 25 Indians hit by Houthi drone in Red Sea, crew safe: Navy

New Delhi: An oil tanker carrying 25 Indians on board was hit by a Houthi drone in the Red Sea. The crew members were safe. The incident came amid a spike in attacks on ships linked to Israel and its allies by Houthis in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war.

The tanker, MV Saibaba, is Gabon-owned, and was not an Indian-flagged vessel, Navy officials said.

No injuries were reported following reports of the attack received by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) at 8 pm (Yemen time) on Friday.

The CENTCOM said a US warship, Laboon, responded to the distress call from the drone attack.

Earlier, the CENTCOM said MV Saibaba was an "Indian-flagged crude oil tanker", but now the Indian Navy has denied it.

Another ship, MV Blaamanen, a Norwegian-flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil tanker, reported a near miss of a Houthi one-way attack drone with no injuries or damage reported, CENTCOM said.

The US military shot down four drones headed towards a US destroyer in the southern Red Sea and launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

"These attacks represent the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants since October 17," CENTCOM said on X.

Two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were also "fired into international shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen", it said, adding, "No ships reported being impacted by the ballistic missiles."

The incident came close on the heels of a drone hitting an Israel-affiliated merchant vessel off the coast of Gujarat, which, the US alleged, was "fired from Iran". The vessel had around 20 Indian crew and was carrying crude oil from the Al Jubail port in Saudi Arabia to New Mangalore port in Karnataka.