- An unidentified group of attackers seized an Israel-linked tanker off the coast of Yemen on Sunday.
- A US Navy warship responded to a distress call and secured the seized ship, an official said.
- Zodiac Maritime, which manages the ship, said the seizure was a “suspected piracy incident.”
Authorities reported the seizure of a tanker off the coast of Yemen, linked to Israel after at least two other recent maritime attacks were associated with the Israel-Hamas war with no immediate group claiming responsibility.
Zodiac Maritime, managing the Liberian-flagged Central Park, confirmed the attack occurred in the Gulf of Aden. Assigned a Turkish captain, a multinational crew of Russian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Indian, Georgian and Filipino nationals operated the ship carrying a full cargo of phosphoric acid.
Additional off-shore forces responded to the distress call from the tanker to secure the ship, while the suspected pirates returned to Yemen shores before being captured by US Navy personnel, according to one source, who also mentioned that a Japanese destroyer supported the US Navy in the operation. Another source disclosed that two Chinese Navy warships in the area did not provide assistance.
Despite being owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc. according to Zodiac, this marks the latest attack on Zodiac Maritime amid escalating tensions with Iran. Earlier warnings for sailors in the Middle East raised suspicions of a possible attack happening, with one ship sailing south of Yemen’s coast, and US intel was working under the assumption that “an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals” were behind the attack.
Notably, both the Central Park and another ship behaved with caution, turning off their Automatic Identification System trackers, indicating recognition of a threat. The sequence of events shared similarities between two separate incidents involving Israel-linked vessels, including a container ship, the CMA CGM Symi, owned by a different Israeli billionaire, targeted by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean.
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