Repairs underway for damaged submarine cables in Red Sea amid Houthi attacks

A maintenance ship is conducting repairs on submarine cables under the Red Sea, after they were damaged in February amidst escalating Houthi attacks on maritime vessels in the region, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

The AAE-1 cable, spanning 25,000 kilometers between Asia and Europe, was repaired by a vessel belonging to E-Marine, a subsidiary of the Emirates Telecommunications Group based in Abu Dhabi. The repairs on the AAE-1 cable were completed this week, according to a Yemeni government official cited by Bloomberg.

The repair ship, Niwa, remains in Yemeni waters to repair the other two cables, Seacom and EIG. These cables, part of more than a dozen running through the Red Sea, were severed by the anchor of the British cargo ship Rubymar, which was sunk by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in a missile attack in late February.

Repair operations rely on access to infrastructure in Yemeni waters, a task complicated by the ongoing conflict and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. 

The repair operation required months of negotiations between the cable operators, the internationally recognized Yemeni government, and the Houthi group, Bloomberg reports.