Salvagers abandon effort to tow burning oil tanker in the Red Sea targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Salvagers have abandoned an initial effort to tow away a burning oil tanker in the Red Sea targeted by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. That’s according to a European Union naval mission. The announcement by the EU’s Operation Aspides came on Tuesday. It leaves the Sounion stranded and its 1 million barrels of oil at risk of spilling. The Houthis initially attacked the Greek-flagged tanker last month with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. The U.S. State Department has warned that a spill from the Sounion could be “four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster” in 1989 off Alaska.