Bulk carrier hit by missile off Aden, fire onboard, ship's owner says

The Barbados-flagged True Confidence bulk carrier was hit by a missile on Wednesday 50 nautical miles southwest of Yemen's Aden, with a fire continuing onboard, the vessel's owner and operator said.

"The vessel is drifting," Liberia registered owner True Confidence Shipping and Greece based operator Third January Maritime Ltd said in a joint statement, adding that there was no current connection with any U.S. entity.

The companies said no information was currently available about the ship's 20 crew or its three separate armed security guards onboard.