Yesterday, the Iranian-backed Houthis struck the Marshall Islands-flagged, Bermuda-owned M/V Marlin Luanda with an Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) in the Gulf of Aden. Marlin Luanda is transporting for commercial use a cargo of Naphtha, a highly flammable liquid hydrogen mixture. Following the missile strike, a major fire ensued in one of the cargo holds. USS Carney (DDG 64), the French Navy Frigate FS Alsace (D656) and Indian Navy Frigate INS Visakhapatnam (DD66) all responded quickly, providing critical firefighting material and assistance to the civilian crew, who had depleted their organic firefighting capability. The multinational crew, the lives of which the Houthis endangered, was made up of 22 Indian and 1 Bangladeshi crew members.
Thanks to this rapid response by the U.S., Indian and French navies, the fire is now extinguished. There were no casualties in the attack, the ship remains seaworthy, and has returned to its previous course.
Many thanks to our Combined Maritime Forces partners for their great teamwork at sea, averting a disaster that threatened lives and the seaworthiness of the ship and risked major environmental damage.