On February 18th, the bulk carrier RUBYMAR, flying the Belize flag, was navigating between the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria loaded with 22,000 tons of fertilizer when it was targeted by the Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, 35 nautical miles south of Al Mukha, Yemen.
A missile struck the vessel, causing significant damage to its engine room and one of its cargo holds, resulting in a major breach and significant flooding. Despite efforts to contain the leak, the crew had to abandon the ship on February 19, marking the first such incident since the Houthi attacks, after safely securing it by anchoring. The crew members were rescued by a nearby merchant vessel.
In reaction to this situation, several videos are circulating on social networks showing the “bulk carrier Rubymar” sunk, some of them fake, like the one shared in the Twitter post below, not corresponding to the real ship.
Read an article we wrote about the same subject
