24 crew members have been rescued from an LNG tanker after a fire on board while the vessel was passing through the Gulf of Aden over the weekend.

The incident was reported on board the LNG tanker Falcon about 116 nautical miles east of Aden at 9:45 AM UTC on Saturday.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency initially reported that the vessel had been hit by an unknown projectile, but later clarified that it could not rule out an onboard incident as the cause of the fire.

“EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, under the coordination of Rear Admiral Andrea Quondamatteo, Force Commander of ASPIDES, has successfully coordinated a SAR (SEARCH AND RESCUE) operation,” EU military operation EUNAVFOR ASPIDES said in a statement on its website on Sunday.

“MV MEDA successfully rescued 24 crewmembers of MV FALCON (1 Ukrainian and 23 Indians). The Hellenic Frigate HS SPETSAI escorted the vessel to the Port of Djibouti, where the rescued seafarers were safely handed over to the Djiboutian Coast Guard.”