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A shipping vessel linked to an Israeli billionaire was attacked by “pirates” off the coast of Yemen on Sunday before “international naval coalition partners” responded to the incident, the ship’s parent company said.
The attempted seizure of the Central Park, a chemical tanker, came after at least two other tankers were similarly attacked in incursions believed to have had ties to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The tanker is owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc., and managed by British company Zodiac Maritime. The crew and cargo are safe, according to Janni Järvinen, a crisis manager representing Zodiac.
The Central Park had been transiting a shipping route in the Gulf of Aden — which has in the past been a hub of pirate activity — when it sent a distress call early Sunday morning, Järvinen said in an email.
Since then, Zodiac Maritime’s team in London “have been working closely with international naval coalition partners in the region,” Järvinen said. “We would like to thank the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law.”
Järvinen did not respond to a follow-up email asking which naval forces intervened, what that response involved and whether the pirates’ nation of origin was known.
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There was a crew of 22 onboard the ship, Järvinen previously said. The crew aboard were Russian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Indian, Georgian and Filipino nationals. The Liberian-flagged ship was transporting phosphoric acid.
Zodiac Maritime is a brand under Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. The Ofer family made their fortune through real estate and shipping, according to Forbes.
The attempted seizure of the Central Park comes after similar incidents in recent days.
Last week, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said they had seized an Israeli-linked vessel named Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea, and vowed to target ships owned or operated by Israel. Yemen-based Houthi rebels are part of a wide network of Tehran-supported armed factions in the Middle East.
In 2021, two people died aboard a Zodiac Maritime oil tanker after the vessel was attacked with an explosive drone amid a string of attacks at the time on tankers and other vessels when tensions were high in the region.
Christian Davenport and Kyle Rempfer contributed to this report.