A vessel is on fire after being struck off the coast of Yemen after Houthi threats in the key shipping route continued despite UK and US strikes.

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported an incident 60 nautical miles south-east of Aden on Friday, saying “vessel and crew are safe and no damage reported”.

It comes after an earlier incident in which two missiles were reported to have exploded in the water.

UKMTO said authorities have been informed and are responding to the latest strike, warning other vessels to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.

The Houthis have claimed their naval forces carried out an operation targeting “the British oil tanker Marlin Luanda” in the Gulf of Aden, causing a fire to break out.

However, shipping data suggests the vessel sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

They used “appropriate naval missiles, the strike was direct,” the Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement.

The British government has yet to comment on the claims.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea since November over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, endangering shipping on a key route for global trade.

Alongside numerous airstrikes on key Houthi targets, the UK and US are also targeting key figures in the Iran-backed militant group with sanctions.

A second series of UK and US airstrikes, carried out at the start of the week, appears to have done little to deter Houthi action.

Earlier on Friday, a spokesperson for the prime minister said: “We continue to call on [the Houthis] to step back from such action. We’re clear that this is illegal and unacceptable.”

The foreign secretary, David Cameron, is finishing a trip to the Middle East, in a diplomatic bid to reduce tensions as the Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues.

PA Media contributed to this report

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