A Houthi Missile Set a Tanker on Fire. Its Captain Was Told He Could Abandon Ship

On January 26, 2024, a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile struck the tanker Marlin Luanda in the Gulf of Aden, U.S. Central Command said — 23 crew aboard, and a cargo of naphtha below them. By the International Maritime Organization's account, the crew fought the fire on their own for four and a half hours. Then help came: another tanker, a French frigate and the U.S. destroyer USS Carney — which had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired toward it that same afternoon — and an Indian Navy destroyer. Carney delivered 600 gallons of firefighting foam, helping to extinguish the fire, the Navy said. The fire flared up again and again. The captain, Avhilash Rawat, was told he could abandon his ship, and he did not. The turning point, in the IMO's judgment, came when Indian Navy firefighters boarded. The fire burned for about 20 hours, and all 23 crew members came through safely. The whole deployment — the first fight, the Gulf of Aden, the burning tanker and the count that came after — is in the main film (about 11 minutes): [main film link — added after upload] Sources · U.S. Central Command — releases of January 26 and 27, 2024 · video, DVIDS 912889 · U.S. Navy — “USS Carney Returns Home from Historic Deployment,” May 2024 · U.S. Navy photograph (DVIDS 8298725) · International Maritime Organization — 2024 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea, December 2, 2024 · Jack Wittels — “What It's Like to Captain a Tanker on Fire After a Houthi Attack,” Bloomberg (via gCaptain), December 4, 2024 · The Maritime Executive, January 28, 2024 (Indian Navy and Trafigura statements) · Naval News, January 27, 2024 (French Navy statement) The 3D scenes are a directed reconstruction built from the records with carved models, not footage of the events. The narration is a synthetic voice. The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement. #shorts #MarlinLuanda #GulfOfAden #Houthis #USSCarney #RedSea #SANDTABUL SANDTABUL · Warfare, set out on the sand table. Battles, operations and the machines of war, re-staged in carved 3D and placed in the world that shaped them.