Tanker hit by Houthi rebels that threatened a Red Sea oil spill has been salvaged

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- An oil tanker that burned for weeks in the Red Sea after being attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels and threatening a massive oil spill has been salvaged, a security firm said Friday.

The Sounion had been a disaster-in-waiting in the waterway, with 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard that had been struck and later sabotaged with explosives by the Iranian-backed Houthis as part of their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. It took months for salvagers to tow the vessel away, extinguish the fires and offload the remaining crude oil.

“Over three challenging weeks, the fires were extinguished, cargo tanks patched and pressurised with inert gas, and the vessel declared safe,” said the private security firm Ambrey, which helped lead the response alongside a European naval force and salvagers. “In early October, she was towed north to Suez for removal of her cargo, which has now been successfully completed.”

The U.S. State Department had warned that a spill from the Sounion would have been “four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster” in 1989 off Alaska.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis, who have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, for over a decade and have been battling a Saudi-led coalition backing the country's exiled government for nearly as long.

The Houthis initially attacked the Greek-flagged Sounion tanker on Aug. 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides rescued its crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, after they abandoned the vessel and took them to nearby Djibouti.

The Houthis later released footage showing they planted explosives on board the Sounion and ignited them in a propaganda video, something the rebels have done before in their campaign.

The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The tempo of Houthi attacks has slowed in recent weeks, particularly involving ships at sea. However, they have continued to launch drones and missiles targeting Israel.