Four seafarers were rescued in the Red Sea on Thursday two days after their cargo ship was sunk by Houthi militants, in an attack that killed at least four people.
But 11 people remain missing and several others have been kidnapped following the Yemeni group’s attack on the Greek ship Eternity C.
It is the second cargo ship sunk by the Houthi militia this week, shattering months of relative calm along a critical ocean route for global oil and commodities. The attack has sparked calls to restore safe passage through the sea.
Off the coast of Yemen, the ongoing rescue operation comes a day after the Houthis sank the Eternity C and said they were holding several of the missing crew members.
Ellie Shafik, head of intelligence with UK-based maritime risk management company Vanguard Tech, said the priority is the safety of all remaining crew members and their swift release.
"We remain deeply concerned for the welfare of the crew members in the custody of the Houthis, as well as for those currently unaccounted for,” she said.
Six crew members were rescued on Wednesday after spending more than 24 hours in the water, security companies involved in a rescue operation said, taking the total number of rescued survivors to 10. That includes eight Filipino crew members, one Indian security guard and one Greek security guard.
“This fills us with more courage to continue to search for those missing, as the Greek vessel operator requested, and shows that our search plan was correct,” said an official at Greece-based maritime risk management firm Diaplous.
The Iran-aligned Houthis said they are holding some of the seafarers, and claimed responsibility for the attacks on cargo ship Eternity C. Maritime security sources said the group is believed to be holding six of the ship’s 22 crew and three guards.
Eternity C was first hit on Monday with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from speed boats. Four people were believed to have been killed in the attacks, maritime security sources say. If confirmed, the deaths would be the first fatalities in the area since June 2024.
By Tuesday morning the vessel was adrift and listing, before being attacked again which forced the crew to abandon it. The ship sank on Wednesday morning.
The United States Mission in Yemen accused the Houthis of kidnapping many surviving crew members from Eternity C and called for their immediate and unconditional safe release.
“The Houthis continue to show the world why the United States was right to label them a terrorist organisation” the mission said on X (Twitter).
The Houthis released a video they said depicted their attack on Eternity C. It included sound of a Yemen naval forces’ call for the crew to evacuate for rescue and showed explosions on the ship before it sank. The Independent could not verify the audio or the location of the ship.
“The Yemeni Navy responded to rescue a number of the ship’s crew, provide them with medical care, and transport them to a safe location,” the group's military spokesperson said in a televised address.
The Houthis also have claimed responsibility for a similar assault on Sunday targeting another ship, the Magic Seas. All crew from the Magic Seas were rescued before it sank.
The strikes on the two ships revive a campaign by the Iran-aligned fighters who had attacked more than 100 ships from November 2023 to December 2024 in what they said was solidarity with the Palestinians.
In May, the US announced a surprise deal with the Houthis where it agreed to stop a bombing campaign against them in return for an end to shipping attacks, though the Houthis said the deal did not include sparing Israel.
Marco Forgione, director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, said the strikes were a “tragic escalation” and an attack on commercial shipping.
“Lives have been lost, and this major trade route is even more dangerous now. After nearly 600 days of disruption, supply chains are stretched thin,” he said.
“We urgently need safe passage restored. These trade routes keep food, medicine, and energy moving across the world. Our members and the integrated global supply chain need a return to peaceful, safe and secure trade routes."
On Thursday, the Houthis said they had also attacked Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile.
The Israeli military said the missile from Yemen was intercepted after air raid sirens were triggered in several parts of the country.
With additional reporting from Reuters
