Cameroon-flagged tanker MV Falcon issues distress call about 60 nautical miles (110km) south of Yemen’s Ahwar in Gulf of Aden.

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has caught fire in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen after an explosion, according to the UK’s maritime security firm Ambrey and the European Union’s naval task force.

The incident occurred on Saturday in the Gulf of Aden, about 60 nautical miles (110km) south of Ahwar, on the southern coast of Yemen, according to Ambrey.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the vessel, identified as the MV Falcon, was “hit by an unknown projectile, resulting in a fire”. “Authorities are investigating,” it said.

Ambrey described the ship as a Cameroon-flagged tanker en route from Sohar, Oman, to Djibouti.

The EU’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 Houthi official from the Ministry of Defence said the Yemeni group had no connection to the incident on Saturday, according to the Saba news agency.

The Houthis have carried out a military campaign of attacking ships through the Red Sea corridor in what they describe 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.

The attacks have disrupted trade flows through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

But no attacks have been claimed by the rebel group since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire began in Gaza on October 10.

The group’s most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on September 29, killing one crew member and wounding another. The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk.

Israel has repeatedly struck what it says are Houthi targets in Yemen in recent months, killing dozens of Yemeni civilians. The Houthis have also fired missiles towards Israel. While most were intercepted, some broke past Israel’s much-vaunted US-supplied air defences, causing injuries and disruptions at airports.

On Thursday, Israel claimed responsibility for killing the Houthi military’s chief of staff, Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari.

The Houthis said in a statement that the conflict with Israel had not ended and that Israel will “receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed”.

In August, Israel said it targeted senior figures from the group, including al-Ghamari, in air strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which killed the prime minister of Yemen’s Houthi-run government and several other ministers.