Apr 04, 2024 06:00:00

It turns out that a submarine cable in the Red Sea has been severed by an abandoned cargo ship after being attacked by an armed group's anti-ship ballistic missile.

In

Yemen , located in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, clashes continue between the regime and the Houthi rebels, and the armed groups have repeatedly attacked ships passing through the Red Sea , which is located between northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. . It has been learned that the undersea cable cutting accident in the Red Sea that occurred at the end of February 2024 was caused by a cargo ship that was abandoned after being attacked by Yemeni rebels.

What Caused the Red Sea Submarine Cable Cuts? | Kentik Blog
https://www.kentik.com/blog/what-caused-the-red-sea-submarine-cable-cuts/

A Ghost Ship's Doomed Journey Through the Gate of Tears | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/houthi-internet-cables-ship-anchor-path/

On February 24, 2024, three submarine cables, Seacom/TGN-EA , EIG , and AAE-1 , laid in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea were severed. Industry sources said EIG's cable was down when it was cut in December 2023, so the operational impact on internet communications was minimal.

However, the impact of the disconnection between Seacom and AAE-1 has been clearly confirmed, with Seacom's cable disconnecting from AAE-1 at around 9:46 a.m. on February 24, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) , and AAE-1 disconnecting at around 9:51 a.m. on the same day. -1's cable is believed to have been severed. The disruption caused by the Seacom cable cut primarily occurred in East Africa, while the AAE-1 cable cut affected East Africa, the Red Sea coast, and even Asia.

The following is a traffic measurement over time of King Abdul Aziz City for Science & Technology , an academic institution in Tanzania , East Africa. It can be seen that BGP , the routing protocol, was disrupted at around 9:46 UTC when Seacom's cable was disconnected.

Additionally, at around 9:51 UTC when AAE-1's cable was cut, it can be confirmed that BGP of VNPT, a major telecommunications group in Vietnam, was interrupted.

Attacks on ships by Yemeni armed groups are believed to have been the cause of the cable cuts, which had widespread effects from Africa to Asia.

On the night of February 18th,

the MV Rubimar , a Belize -flagged, British-owned cargo ship, was attacked by an anti-ship ballistic missile by armed groups while sailing through the Red Sea carrying fertilizer. The crew lowered the anchor and abandoned the 171-meter-long and 27-meter-wide Rubimar, but for the next two weeks the Rubimar continued to move, driven by ocean currents and winds.

It was reported that the Rubimar finally sank on March 2nd , but it is thought that the anchor likely severed the submarine cable while drifting between the time of the attack and the time of the ship's sinking. Masu. Damage from ship anchors is said to be a common cause of submarine cable breakage, along with earthquakes and landslides.

Although the Yemeni government is likely to approve a repair plan in the coming weeks, repairs to all three cables may not begin until late April. Network monitoring firm Kentik said insurgents continue to attack ships in the Red Sea, and there is a risk that another attacked vessel could sever remaining undersea cables.