Experts: Commercial shipping likely severed Red Sea cables, disrupting internet across Africa, Asia and Middle East
Preliminary analysis points to an anchor drag in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait cutting multiple submarine cables that carry international internet traffic
A commercial vessel likely cut multiple submarine communications cables in the Red Sea over the weekend, disrupting internet access across parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, experts told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The International Cable Protection Committee and independent analysts said the probable cause was an anchor dragged across cables in the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern mouth of the Red Sea that separates East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Initial reports identified cuts to the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4), the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) and the FALCON GCX cables; analysts later added the Europe India Gateway to the list of affected systems.
“Early independent analysis indicates that the probable cause of damage is commercial shipping activity in the region,” John Wrottesley, operations manager for the International Cable Protection Committee, told the AP. Wrottesley said damage from dragged anchors accounts for roughly 30% of annual cable incidents and represents about 60 faults.
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, said the working assumption was that a commercial vessel dropped its anchor and dragged it across the cables, severing connections. He said cabling in the Red Sea is often at relatively shallow depths, increasing vulnerability to anchor strikes.
The cuts reduced international transit capacity for some internet service providers, leading to increased latency and degraded performance for some users. Madory said at least 10 nations appeared to be affected, including India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. “Nobody’s completely offline, but each provider has lost a subset of their international transit,” he said.
Undersea fiber-optic cables form a critical portion of the global internet backbone, alongside satellite and land-based links. Network operators typically reroute traffic when one route fails, but rerouting can increase latency and strain alternate routes.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia have not publicly acknowledged the incident, and the companies that manage the affected cables had not issued statements as of Tuesday. The committee and independent analysts based their assessments on network measurements and publicly available diagnostics.
The episode echoes earlier incidents in the region. In 2023 and 2024, several undersea cables were damaged amid heightened tensions and maritime activity linked to the Israel-Hamas war, prompting concerns about the security and resilience of undersea infrastructure. Yemen’s Houthi rebels denied responsibility for some earlier cuts, while a government in exile alleged plots targeting cables.
Industry experts say routine shipping incidents, such as anchor drags, and deliberate attacks both pose risks to submarine cables. Repairing severed undersea fibers typically requires specialized vessels and coordinated logistics, and operators often work to restore service by rerouting traffic and deploying repair ships as conditions allow.
The incident highlights the continued vulnerability of submarine communications infrastructure to both accidental and intentional damage, and the potential for localized physical disruptions to cause wider regional connectivity problems.