![The Rubymar sinking after being damaged in a missile attack by the Houthis in the Red Sea off Yemen. (EPA PHOTO) The Rubymar sinking after being damaged in a missile attack by the Houthis in the Red Sea off Yemen. (EPA PHOTO)](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/532922f7-e11d-471e-b857-f6ae8c8b5702.jpg/r0_0_800_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Rubymar, attacked by Houthi militants last month, has sunk in the Red Sea, Yemen's internationally recognised government has said, warning of a "environmental catastrophe" from the ship's cargo of fertilizer.
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It would be the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial shipping in November, forcing shipping firms to divert vessels on to the longer, more expensive route around southern Africa.
The militants say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
On Monday, a Yemeni government team visited the Rubymar, a Belize-flagged UK-owned cargo ship, and said it was partially submerged. A government statement on Saturday said the ship had sunk in the southern Red Sea on Friday night.
The US military previously said the attack had significantly damaged the freighter and caused an 18-mile (29-km) oil slick, adding the ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer.
Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, foreign minister in Yemen's Aden-based government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, said in a post on X: "The sinking of the Rubymar is an environmental catastrophe that Yemen and the region have never experienced before.
The internationally recognised government is based in Aden, while the Houthis have gained control of the north and other large centres since a war that began in 2014.
The release of some 41,000 tons of fertilizer into the waters of the Red Sea poses a serious threat to marine life, said Ali Al-Sawalmih, director of the Marine Science Station at the University of Jordan.
The overload of nutrients can stimulate excessive growth of algae, using up so much oxygen that regular marine life cannot survive, said Al-Sawalmih, describing a process called eutrophication.
The overall impact depends on how ocean currents deplete the fertilizer and how it is released from the stricken vessel, said Xingchen Tony Wang, assistant professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College.
The ecosystem of the southern Red Sea features pristine coral reefs, coastal mangroves and diverse marine life.
Last year, the area avoided a potential environmental disaster when the United Nations removed more than 1 million barrels of oil from a decaying supertanker moored off the Yemen coast. That type of operation may be more difficult in the current circumstances.
Separately the Houthi Transport Ministry on Saturday blamed hostile actions conducted by US and British naval vessels against Yemen for a "glitch" in undersea cables in the Red Sea.
Australian Associated Press