August 2024 oil spill caused by attacks on the tanker Sounion | |
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Location | Red Sea, "77 nautical miles to the West of Al Hudaydah" |
Coordinates | 14°59′24.468″N 41°39′17.28″E / 14.99013000°N 41.6548000°E[1] |
Date | 22 August 2024 |
Cause | |
Cause | Destruction of the oil tanker Sounion by Houthi militants |
Operator | Delta Tankers |
Spill characteristics | |
Volume | Up to 150,000 tons (~1 million barrels) of petroleum |
The attacks on the MT Sounion refers to Houthi attacks on a Greek-registered oil tanker and the resulting spillage of crude oil into the Red Sea, that at the time of the spill was carrying approximately 150,000 tons of petroleum cargo. The oil spill was caused by Houthi explosions targeting the ship, which caused the ship to burn and start spilling flaming crude oil into the ocean which the European Union Aspides military task force stated posed a severe environmental risk to the complex biodiversity of the marine region.[2]