<span>A ship was attacked off the coast of Yemen, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which cited reports from vessels in the vicinity</span> <span>The agency said it was made aware of an attack on a merchant ship on Friday.</span> <span>The incident came days after an explosion rocked an oil tanker docked at a port in Saudi Arabia.</span> On Saturday, UKMTO said the crew and vessel in the Yemen incident were safe. The Gulf of Aden is a crucial route for global trade and was until recently vulnerable to Somali pirate attacks. The ship went to Yemeni port city of Nishtun after it was attacked. Ambrey, a British private maritime intelligence firm, identified the vessel as the Sierra Leone flagged <em>MV Hasan</em>, a cargo ship bound for Salalah in Oman. The <em>Hasan</em> is registered to Oasis Shipping, a Marshall Islands firm with an address linking it to a Beirut address for Barhoum Maritime. The US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, which patrols Middle Eastern waterways, said it was aware of the incident but declined to comment further. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. In November, a mine in the Red Sea off Saudi Arabia's coast near Yemen exploded and damaged an oil tanker. <span>The Greek-operated vessel was docked at Shuqaiq in Saudi Arabia.</span> Suspicion fell on Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who hold the capital, Sanaa, and have been identified by United Nations analysts as using sea mines in the conflict.