American navy helicopters sank three small boats utilized by Houthi militants to assault a Maersk container vessel within the southern Red Sea, the US navy has mentioned.
Several of the armed Houthi crews have been killed when the helicopters opened fireplace, the US navy added.
There have been no accidents on the Denmark-owned container vessel.
The ship was focused as Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have stepped up assaults on vessels within the Red Sea to indicate their help for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is combating Israel in Gaza.
The Maersk Hangzhou ship initially reported it had been hit by a missile on Saturday night within the southern Red Sea, round 55 nautical miles from Yemen, US Central Command (Centcom) mentioned in an announcement.
The USS Gravely and USS Laboon responded to a misery name and the Maersk vessel was discovered to be seaworthy, the assertion added.
The US navy additionally mentioned it shot down two anti-ship missiles that have been fired in the direction of the container ship.
Hours later the Maersk vessel issued a second misery name when it was focused by 4 Houthi boats.
The Houthi militants fired small arms weapons on the Maersk Hangzhou, attending to inside about 65ft (20m) of the vessel, Centcom mentioned.
A contract-embarked safety workforce on the ship returned fireplace, the central command mentioned.
Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower plane provider and the USS Gravely responded to the misery name and, whereas issuing verbal warnings to the attackers, the small boat crews opened fireplace on the helicopters utilizing small arms, the assertion mentioned.
“The US navy helicopters returned fire in self-defence”, sinking three of the 4 boats, killing the crews, whereas the fourth boat fled the world, Centcom mentioned, and no injury to US personnel or tools was reported.
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Maersk has paused all crusing by way of the Red Sea for 48 hours after the most recent assault.
The Singapore-flagged vessel with capability to hold 14,000 containers was travelling from Singapore to Port Suez.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron mentioned he had spoken to his Iranian counterpart about assaults within the Red Sea “which threaten innocent lives and the global economy”.
He added: “I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks given their long-standing support to the Houthis.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis say their assaults are aimed toward Israel-linked ships in an effort to cease the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Source: information.sky.com”