Less than a week after the crew of a container vessel operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company and hijacked by Iran was released, two more MSC box ships have come under attack.
The MSC Gina was passing through the Gulf of Aden after 2am on May 7 when it came under attack.
It is believed to have been about 315 kilometres south of Yemen’s Socotra island when Houthi rebels launched an attack on the 4 000 TEU vessel.
It was the second time that the Gina has come under fire from the Yemeni militia.
At about the same time and area of the Gulf of Aden, Houthis also attacked the MSC Diego, another 4 000 TEU vessel.
No seafarers were injured in the attacks.
Since the Iran-backed rebels from the Ansar Allah movement started targeting maritime trade on November 19 when it launched a brazen air assault on an autoliner, the Galaxy Leader, in the southern Red Sea, almost 100 commercial vessels have come under attack by Houthis.
And although Iran released the crew of the MSC Aries, which was seized in the Strait of Hormuz, starting first with a female ship’s cadet before releasing the remaining 24 seafarers through consular intervention, not all mariners are treated equally.
The Galaxy Leader’s crew of 25 remain in Yemen, to where the autoliner was diverted, marking more than 160 days since they were abducted because – say the Houthis – of Israel’s war on Gaza.
