BRIT, the British-based insurer with a 100% line on the suezmax ablaze in the Red Sea after being attacked by a Yemeni rebel faction, has hired two tugs to attempt salvage of the stricken ship, according to a source close to owners Delta Tankers.

The tugs are believed to be Hercules (IMO: 9558517) and Gladiator (IMO: 7621011), essentially the only capacity in the region, which have attended previous casualties resulting from Houthi attacks on merchant shipping.

However, both of them are subject to sanctions from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control and the operation cannot get under way unless dispensation is obtained, marine insurance sources stressed.

Martin Hall, a lawyer with Hill Dickinson and an expert on the law surrounding marine salvage, pointed out in an interview with Lloyd’s List earlier this week that there is past precedent, and that Ofac tends to be amenable to reasonable requests.

There have also been media reports that the Houthis have provided guarantees not to attack the tugs should the tugs get the necessary permissions, presumably on the realisation that a spill could have deleterious consequences for Yemen.

On Wednesday last week Sounion (IMO: 9312145) was hit by three Houthi projectiles, forcing the evacuation of the crew. The initial assessment was that the ship had sustained only minor damage.

But the Islamist faction — which is ostensibly acting in solidarity with the Palestinian side in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza — went further on Friday evening and deliberately set the tanker on fire.

Sounion is the third Delta Tankers tanker to take a hit this month alone, with earlier strikes on Delta Atlantica (IMO: 9419101) and Delta Blue (IMO: 9601235).