< Ship carrying humanitarian aid shelled off Yemen >

The general cargo ship AMSTERDAM, loaded with 7,000 tons of UN humanitarian aid for Yemen, was fired on less than a nautical mile off Aden. The ship was making a voyage from Djibouti to Aden, loaded with food and medicines from UN.

On less than 1 nautical mile off Yemen's coast, the ship was attacked by rifles from Shiite Huthi rebels and she was forced to turn back to the anchorage area around 8 nautical miles off the coast. The ship was not damaged and none of the crew members were injured during this incident. The delivery of humanitarian aid was not completed.

The city of Aden is still under the control of pro-government forces, but some neighborhoods were conquered from the Shiite Huthi rebels.

Advice given by local authorities is that any vessel calling in to any Yemeni port should contact the naval forces of the Saudi Arabian coalition by VHF on channel 16 for the arrival registration and to get approval to enter to the Yemeni territorial waters. Thereafter they will advise the ship's master on the location of the anchor position prior to receiving the final approval to enter after inspection.

Yemen's vicious civil war has killed almost 2,000 people and wounded 8,000, according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, other ships sailing near the Yemeni coastline have been the subjected to attacks in recent months.

Article Published on 01 June, 2015

Source: World Maritime News