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Fire triggered by blasts breaks out on ship southeast of Aden, companies say

A fire brought on by close-by surges broke out onboard a vessel southeast of the Yemeni port city of Aden on Monday, before being contained, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) firm and British security company Ambrey reported.

The Master reports the fire onboard has actually been extinguished which the team are all safe. Union Forces are responding, UKMTO said in a recent update on the occurrence.

It later on included that the vessel was clear of the area and was continuing to its next port of call.

A first explosion was reported at a distance off the vessel's port quarter and a second surge caused damage to the vessel, causing a fire which the team are dealing with, the British maritime firms stated.

No casualties were reported.

Coalition Forces operating in the area are examining, UKMTO stated.

The U.S. has formed a global coalition aimed at securing commercial traffic in the Red Sea area from attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militants. The Houthis say they are carrying out the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Ambrey had reported that a container ship was struck and had provided a distress signal, stating the ship was Liberia-flagged and Israel-affiliated, and en route from Singapore to Djibouti. Neither firm revealed the vessel's name.

The vessel was noted as operated by the Israeli business ZIM Integrated Shipping Services. This may have been an obsolete affiliation, as the vessel was not listed on other public sources, Ambrey added.

Israeli shipper ZIM informed it had no connection with the ship.

The container ship continued to transmit an AIS signal after the occurrence, Ambrey said.

The Rubymar cargo ship sank on Friday, ending up being the very first vessel lost given that the Houthis started their attacks in November.

(source: Reuters)