# Six Crew Killed on a Cargo Ship in the Bab al-Mandeb as Red Sea War-Risk Premiums Pass 1 Percent

Yemen's government blames Houthi forces for the first deaths in an attack on shipping since the war on Iran began, and daily transits through the strait have fallen to about 32 vessels.

- Published: 2026-08-12T05:04:41.290Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-08-12/six-crew-killed-on-a-cargo-ship-in-the-bab-al-mandeb-as-red
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/12/six-killed-in-houthi-attack-on-bab-al-mandeb-ship-yemens-government-says), [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2022293/3-pakistanis-die-as-multiple-ships-attacked-in-gulf-waters), [Insurance Journal](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/08/11/881026.htm), [Al Jazeera (shipping insurance)](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/7/23/how-shipping-insurance-rates-are-rising-as-hormuz-bab-al-mandeb-shut-down)

Six people died aboard the Egyptian-owned cargo vessel Tihamah in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, Yemen's internationally recognised government said, blaming Houthi forces. [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/12/six-killed-in-houthi-attack-on-bab-al-mandeb-ship-yemens-government-says) that the deaths are the first among seafarers linked to the Houthis since the United States and Israeli war on Iran began. [Dawn reported](https://www.dawn.com/news/2022293/3-pakistanis-die-as-multiple-ships-attacked-in-gulf-waters) that three Pakistani nationals were among the dead. The Houthis have not claimed the attack on the Tihamah, and separately said they struck a Saudi vessel in the Red Sea. The ship had left the government-held port of al-Mokha, and shipping databases list Egyptian owners and managers, [according to Insurance Journal](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/08/11/881026.htm), which also reported a container ship hit by a missile off Pakistan in what sources described as an American strike.

The insurance market is repricing faster than the shipping market can adapt. War-risk premiums for southern Red Sea voyages rose above 1 percent of a vessel's value, from about 0.75 percent a day earlier and 0.3 percent before the Houthis announced a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia on 20 July, Insurance Journal reported. [Al Jazeera has documented](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/7/23/how-shipping-insurance-rates-are-rising-as-hormuz-bab-al-mandeb-shut-down) the same pattern across both chokepoints.

Traffic through the strait has fallen to about 32 ships a day, from 50 before the embargo announcement. The cost is not only the longer, diverted voyage around southern Africa. It is also the added premium that every remaining transit now pays.

## What this means

War-risk insurance adds a direct cost to trade, charged before any cargo moves, and that cost falls on importers of bulk goods and containers into Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. At above 1 percent of hull value, a single transit can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which pushes more shipowners to route around Africa and adds roughly two weeks to Asia-Europe voyages. Egypt loses Suez Canal revenue through the same shift in traffic, and crews from South and Southeast Asia bear the physical risk of the remaining transits.

## What to watch

- Whether daily transits fall further below the current 32 vessels, the practical measure of whether the southern Red Sea is functionally closed.
- Whether war-risk quotes keep rising after this incident, since insurers price fatalities differently from damage to hulls.
- Egypt's monthly Suez Canal revenue, which converts the rerouting directly into a balance-of-payments loss for a country already short of foreign currency.