Salvage Operation for Sounion Tanker Resumes

ATHENS (Reuters) – Experts will this week resume a risky operation to salvage the Sounion tanker, attacked multiple times by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea last month. The vessel still holds about one million barrels of crude oil, according to maritime sources.

The towing of the 900-foot (274.2-meter), Greek-registered tanker, which lost power and caught fire after being struck by projectiles on August 21, was paused due to safety concerns from the initial project companies.

This salvage operation is especially delicate due to the tanker’s full load and various other factors, officials warned. Any spill could lead to one of the largest maritime environmental disasters in a particularly hazardous area.

The Houthis, claiming to support Palestinians in the Israel-Gaza conflict, detonated charges on the tanker after the initial attack, which caused additional fires. It remains unclear if any explosives are still active.

At least two tugboats from a Greek-based salvage company are deployed in the area, one source reported. “There is an action plan in place and there is progress,” another source stated, forecasting that towing will commence in the next two days.

The ship's crew has been evacuated, and Greece has sought help from Saudi Arabia.

Although Iran-aligned Houthi militants claim they will let salvage teams tow the Sounion to safety, they have also threatened salvage crews, complicating what is already a challenging operation and endangering more sailors, said Robert Wood, deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, during a U.N. Security Council briefing on Thursday.

The EU's naval mission in the Red Sea, Aspides, will safeguard the vessels involved in the towage and oversee the entire operation, as reiterated by an Aspides official on Thursday. A French and a Greek frigate involved in Aspides are already on-site.

Since November, the Houthis have reportedly damaged more than 80 ships through missile and drone strikes, sinking two and capturing one, which resulted in at least three crew members' deaths.