Footage appears to show deadly Houthi sea drone strike on cargo ship in the Red Sea

Business Insider could not independently verify the video. However, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) later reported that a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned coal carrier was believed to have sunk.

UKMTO is linked to the UK’s Royal Navy.

The UKMTO said on Tuesday: “Military authorities report maritime debris and oil sighted in the last reported location.”

“The vessel is believed to have sunk,” it added.

The US Navy confirmed that the vessel had been attacked by Iranian-backed Houthis using a USV and that sailors from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group had airlifted the crew to safety on June 15.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the attack on the cargo carrier killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines.”

Following the attack, US Central Command announced that its forces had destroyed two Houthi USVs, one uncrewed aerial system launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, and seven Houthi radars.

“It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to U.S., coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region. This action was taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted to X.

The MV Tutor is the second ship that the Houthis have successfully sunk this year. The British-owned Rubymar also sank in the Red Sea after it was struck by a missile fired by the group.

Houthis have been targeting ships in the Red Sea corridor and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones as part of a campaign that aims to put pressure on Israel and the West over the war in Gaza.

The attacks have forced shipping vessels to take longer and more costly routes around the southern tip of Africa.

Experts have said that the US Navy is facing its most intense combat since World War II as it battles the Houthi threat in the region.

“This is the most sustained combat that the US Navy has seen since World War II — easily, no question,” Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told the Associated Press.

“We’re sort of on the verge of the Houthis being able to mount the kinds of attacks that the US can’t stop every time, and then we will start to see substantial damage,” he added.

Between October 17 and the start of May, the Houthis attacked commercial vessels at least 53 times, according to a Congressional Research Service report.