Officials say the attack on the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged ship has caused fatalities.
The Greek-owned cargo ship True Confidence has been hit by a missile about 50 nautical miles (93km) southwest of the Yemeni port of Aden in an attack claimed by Houthi forces.
The bulk carrier was drifting with a fire continuing onboard after it was attacked on Wednesday, a statement by the ship’s owner and operator said, adding that no information was available on the status of the ship’s 20 crew members and three armed guards.
But a shipping source told the Reuters news agency that three sailors were missing from the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier and four were badly burned.
Two United States officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the attack had caused fatalities.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said the vessel was no longer under the command of the crew and they had abandoned it.
Yemen’s Houthis said on Wednesday they had targeted the cargo ship with missiles, causing a fire to break out onboard.
“The targeting operation came after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages from the Yemeni naval forces,” the militia’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility although it typically takes Houthi forces several hours to acknowledge their assaults.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and in opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around Southern Africa.
The True Confidence is owned by the Liberian-registered company True Confidence Shipping and operated by the Greece-based Third January Maritime, both firms said in their joint statement. They said the ship had no link to the US.
However, it had previously been owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based fund that finances vessels on instalments.
Despite more than a month and a half of US-led air strikes on the Houthis, the group has remained capable of launching significant attacks.
They include the attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertiliser, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
A Houthi assault on Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the US campaign against the rebels.
The attack on the Carney involved bomb-carrying drones and one antitank ballistic missile, the US military’s Central Command said.
The US later launched an air strike destroying three antiship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, Central Command said.
Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, acknowledged the attack but said its forces targeted two US warships, without elaborating.
The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted”, Saree said.