A Greek bulker is believed to have sunk in the Red Sea nearly one week after being hit by a remote-controlled waterborne Houthi bomb.
Sources tell TradeWinds that Western navies patrolling the area cannot trace the 82,000-dwt Tutor (built 2022), which had been drifting in the Red Sea.
Debris seen floating in the area suggests that the vessel has gone down, TradeWinds is told.
It is not known if this happened due to the damage the ship incurred in the Houthi attack on 12 June or if it was hit again at some point after it was abandoned by its crew.
Salvage efforts are now being aborted.
The Tutor, which is owned by Greece’s Evalend Shipping, was last known to be still afloat even though parts of its stern were underwater and its engine room was fully submerged.
Evalend managers were not available for comment. However, a statement from UK Maritime Trade Operations confirmed on Tuesday evening that military authorities had identified debris and oil at the ship’s last known location.
“The vessel is believed to have sunk,” UKMTO wrote in a social media post.
If the ship sank, it tragically carried the body of a deceased Filipino seafarer, the ship’s second engineer who lost his life in the attack and was believed to have been trapped in the engine room.
The Tutor becomes the second vessel to suffer the loss of a crew member due to a Houthi attack. Three crew members on the 50,400-dwt bulker True Confidence (built 2011) lost their lives in March.
It also becomes the second ship to sink after a Houthi strike, following the 32,200-dwt bulker Rubymar (built 1997), which was attacked in February.
There are presently no updates regarding another vessel that was abandoned by its crew and reported to be burning and sinking after a Houthi missile strike in the Gulf of Aden over the weekend, the 11,400-dwt Verbena (built 2008).
The vessel’s Ukrainian owner, Donbasstransitservice, did not respond to a request for information about the condition of the ship. There is also no information about any salvors having been hired to tow it.
