KUALA LUMPUR: Several undersea communications cables in the Red Sea have been severed, affecting 25 per cent of data traffic flowing between Asia and Europe, BBC News reported, citing a telecoms company and a US official.
HGC Global Communications, a Hong Kong-based telecoms firm, said it had taken measures to reroute traffic after four of the 15 cables were recently severed.
The cause is not yet clear. The report quoted a US official as saying that it was trying to find out whether the cables were intentionally cut or snagged by an anchor.
Last month, Yemen's internationally-recognised government warned that the Iran-backed Houthi movement might sabotage the undersea cables in addition to attacking ships in the sea.
The Houthis - who control much of western Yemen's Red Sea coast - denied that they had targeted cables and blamed US and British military strikes for any damage to them.
In a statement on Monday, HGC said that four submarine cables in the Red Sea - Seacom, TGN-Gulf, Asia-Africa-Europe 1 and Europe India Gateway - had been cut in a recent "incident".
It said about 25 per cent of traffic was affected, adding that some 80 per cent of the west-bound traffic from Asia passed through the cables.
HGC said it had taken measures to mitigate any disruptions for its clients by rerouting data to Europe through cables in mainland China and under the Pacific Ocean to the US, as well as using the remaining cables in the Red Sea.
African telecoms cable operator Seacom told the Associated Press that "initial testing indicates the affected segment lies within Yemeni maritime jurisdictions in the Southern Red Sea."
BBC reported that a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News that undersea telecommunications cables in the Red Sea had been cut and the US was still trying to determine whether they were deliberately severed or snagged by a ship's anchor.
Last week, Globes, an Israeli business website, reported that the same four cables running between the Saudi city of Jeddah and Djibouti had been damaged and pointed the blame at the Houthis, without providing any evidence.
Sky News Arabia, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, cited unnamed sources as accusing the Houthis of "blowing up" the cables.
'The Houthis' telecommunications ministry denied those reports.
BBC reported the ministry as saying that it wanted to reaffirm remarks in a recent speech by Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, who said the group did not want to put any communications cables at risk.
It added that the decision to "prevent the passage of Israeli ships" through the Red Sea did "not apply to ships belonging to international companies licensed to carry out marine work on cables in Yemeni waters".