Photo: The Houthis released a video of the explosion on the Mentor cargo ship. \Reuters

According to Reuters: Yemen’s Houthi armed forces released a video on the 20th showing the Greek cargo ship “Mentor” sunk last week. The Houthi armed forces said on the 12th of this month that they attacked the “Mentor” cargo ship in the Red Sea using unmanned boats and ballistic missiles. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Office (UKMTO) said on the 18th that the cargo ship had sunk 66 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, Yemen.

The Mentor is the second cargo ship sunk by the Houthis since they attacked merchant ships in the Red Sea last November. In mid-February this year, the British cargo ship Rubi Mar was hit by a Houthi missile and sank in waters off the coast of Yemen in early March.

The Philippine government said last week that all 22 crew members on the Mentor were Filipinos. When the freighter was attacked, the crew abandoned the ship and evacuated. One crew member is missing, and the remaining 21 crew members were rescued.

In addition, the Houthis attacked a Palau-flagged cargo ship, the Verbena, last week, which caught fire and sank, seriously injuring a crew member. The ship is currently drifting in the Gulf of Aden and could sink at any time. Last month, the US and British forces launched the latest round of air strikes on Houthi targets, killing 16 people, and the Houthis threatened to escalate their retaliation.

Egyptian media pointed out that the latest data showed that the revenue of the Suez Canal fell by 64.3% last month to about 340 million US dollars. 30% of the world’s cargo ships sail through the Red Sea. JPMorgan Chase estimates that if the Red Sea crisis continues, the average annual inflation rate this year may rise by 0.7%.