Fires were burning around the oil tanks of a ship that was attacked by Houthi militants in the Red Sea, but there were no signs of a spill so far, the European Union naval force in the region said.

Flames were seen in at least five locations on the oil tanker Sounion after multiple attacks last week, according to the EUNAVFOR Aspides. Images posted on X show flames coming from the main holds of the vessel where oil is stored, as well around the ship’s bridge. The naval force said the ship is an “imminent environmental hazard”.

The agency had warned of an ecological disaster earlier due to the large volume of oil on board. There’s a threat of the ship spilling “a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea, an amount four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster,” the US State Department said in a separate statement over the weekend. 

The Sounion was hit with missiles on Aug 21 after rounding the Yemeni coast to enter the Red Sea. The tanker, which can carry about one million barrels of crude, had called at Iraq’s Basrah oil terminal. As of Monday, the vessel remained at anchor in international waters, according to EUNAVFOR Aspides.

Yemen’s Houthi militants have plagued the areas in and around the Red Sea with missile and drone attacks since November, forcing a vast majority of vessels to instead take the longer route around Africa. The rebels said will keep attacking merchant ships to protest against Israel’s war with Hamas. 

The Sounion’s crew were evacuated on Aug 22 and a French naval destroyer involved in the operation destroyed several missiles launched from Houthi controlled territories. After the evacuation, the Sounion was attacked again on Aug 23, causing the fires that are now burning on the vessel.

  - Bloomberg