Severe damage to the hull and two missing among the crew. This is the toll of an explosion that occurred last Saturday on board a tanker transiting the Gulf of Aden and suspected of transporting Iranian LPG to the ports of Yemen.
The Falcon, this is the name of the ship, was sailing west towards Djibouti when it stopped transmitting data from the automatic identification system around 06:46 on Saturday.
The EU Naval Forces’ Operation Aspides, which intervened following the incident after receiving an urgent distress request from the Falcon’s commander, stated that the remaining 24 crew members were rescued by nearby vessels. According to Aspides, the ship was on fire and adrift approximately 113 nautical miles southeast of Aden, in Yemen.
The causes of the explosion and the fire on board the Falcon are unclear. The United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations Centre initially reported that the ship was hit by a projectile, while Aspides stated that the initial indications were of an accident.
