A crew member of the Dutch cargo ship that was attacked by the Iran-backed Houthis in the Gulf of Aden last week has died of his injuries, the vessel’s Amsterdam-based operator Spliethoff said in a statement Monday night.
The company did not release further details about the deceased crew member, but a spokesperson told a Dutch broadcaster the victim was Filipino.
Spliethoff added that one other crew member remained under medical care in Djibouti.
“His condition is stable, and we expect he will be able to return home later this week.”
The vessel, Minervagracht, was in international waters in the Gulf of Aden when it was struck by an explosive device that inflicted substantial damage and started a fire on the ship. A helicopter was used to rescue 19 of its crew, who are Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino and Sri Lankan.
It was the most serious attack in the Gulf of Aden, some distance from the Red Sea, where the Iranian-backed Houthis sank two vessels in July.
The Minervagracht had been targeted on September 23 in an unsuccessful attack in the Gulf of Aden, which connects to the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.
Last week, a missile launch seen by some in Yemen apparently struck the Minervagracht.
Spliethoff, the ship’s owner, described the strike as “inflicting substantial damage to the ship.”
A European naval force operating in the region, known as Operation Aspides, said the Minervagracht was “on fire and adrift” after the crew’s rescue.
The Houthi rebels have launched missile and drone attacks on over 100 ships and on Israel in response to the war in Gaza, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
However, the group’s past targets have had little or no connection to Israel.
The US Navy-overseen Joint Maritime Information Center said that the Minervagracht had “no Israeli affiliations.”
The Houthis claimed it was targeted “because its owner company violated the decision to ban entry to the ports of occupied Palestine.”
The Houthi attack widened the area of the rebels’ recent assaults, as the last recorded attack on a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden before the Minervagracht came in August 2024.
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel that launched the war in Gaza.
The Houthis briefly held their fire when a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas in January 2025. By that point, they had launched over 40 ballistic missiles and dozens of attack drones and cruise missiles at Israel, including one that killed a civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv in July 2024, prompting Israel’s first strike in Yemen, which has since been followed by numerous others.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 91 ballistic missiles and at least 41 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.
In response, Israel has attacked the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, located some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away, 19 times.