The incident occurred on Saturday in the Gulf of Aden, about 60 nautical (equivalent to 110km) miles south of Ahwar, on the southern coast of Yemen, according to Ambrey.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the vessel was “hit by an unknown projectile, resulting with a fire”. “Authorities are investigating,” it said.
Ambrey described the ship as a Cameroon-flagged tanker en route from Sohar, Oman, to Djibouti.
The European Union’s naval force Aspides said the cause of the explosion was unclear. It added that 15 percent of the vessel was on fire, according to initial indications.
It said 24 of the MV Falcon’s 26 crew members were rescued, and two were reported missing. Rescue operations were ongoing, it said.
Ambrey noted that the LNG tanker did not belong to the category of vessels usually targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the area.
A defence ministry official from the Houthis said it had no connection to the incident on Saturday, according to the Saba news agency.
In the past the Houthi group has carried a military campaign of attacking ships through the Red Sea corridor in what it describes as solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
The group has launched numerous attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since late 2023, targeting ships they deem linked to Israel or its supporters.
