Crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea have abandoned the vessel as it took on water.

Armed security team returns fire in the attack some 51 nautical miles southwest of a stronghold of the Iran-backed Houthi militia.

Sunday’s attack comes against a backdrop of soaring regional tensions following the Israel-Hamas war, airstrikes by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites, and a brief Iran-Israel conflict