At least six other sailors were injured, and the crew abandoned the ship, one of the US officials said, adding that the attack represented the fifth anti-ship missile fired by the Houthis in the past two days.
The area where the attack occurred has become a particularly dangerous transit zone, as Houthi forces in Yemen intensified their targeting of ships in what they described as a response to Israel's actions in Gaza.
British marine safety company Ambrey said on Wednesday that salvage and salvage operations were underway, and that parts of the ship's crew were “already in lifeboats.” She added that an Indian Navy ship, after trying to contact the damaged cargo ship, was seen “close to the last known location of the damaged ship.”
Earlier, Embry said the Barbados-flagged cargo ship was “drifting” about 57 nautical miles off the southwest coast of Yemen, after a nearby ship reported an explosion in the vicinity of the cargo ship.
Embry said the ship was heading northwest when it was “most likely greeted by a self-proclaimed entity” of the Yemeni Navy and ordered to change course.
After the ship was seen turning around and sailing in a different direction, it began drifting and stopped transmitting its position and identification signal, Embry said.
During the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi forces have attacked commercial and military ships in the Gulf of Aden, the Red and Arabian Bahrain, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait – an important area for international trade and maritime traffic.
This week, the cargo ship Rubimar sank in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants, taking with it about 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer, posing a major environmental risk to one of the world's busiest waterways and home to many coral reefs.
The United States and Britain responded with strikes against Yemen, and in December, Washington announced a new coalition of countries to work to counter Houthi attacks and ensure “freedom of navigation for all countries.”
