US Navy responds to distress call after Israeli-owned tanker seized off coast of Yemen

A U.S. Navy vessel responded to a distress call Sunday from an Israeli-linked tanker off the coast of Yemen on Sunday and was later fired upon, Fox News has learned. 

U.S. Navy personnel from the USS Mason, a Mayport-based Arleigh Burke class destroyer assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean, responded to the distress call from the Liberian-flagged Central Park, carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden. 

The vessel is managed by Zodiac Maritime, a London-based international ship management company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group.

A Zodiac spokesperson told Fox News Digital the vessel issued a distress call around 6 a.m. UTC Sunday morning stating it was under attack by suspected pirates while transiting the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTV) some 54 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.