A Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank Wednesday in the Red Sea, with a European naval force in the Mideast saying that only six of 25 people who were on board had been rescued.
Four of the crew were killed and 15 remained missing, authorities said, as the Houthi group officially claimed responsibility for the attack and raised fears it may have kidnapped some of the missing sailors.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had attacked the Eternity C as it was heading toward Eilat. The attack was carried out with an unmanned vessel and six cruise and ballistic missiles, he added.
Saree said the Houthis had “moved to rescue a number of the ship’s crew, provide them with medical care and transport them to a safe location,” seemingly implying that the terror group may have kidnapped some members of the crew.
“After killing their shipmates, sinking their ship and hampering rescue efforts, the Houthi terrorists have kidnapped many surviving crew members of the Eternity C. We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release,” the US embassy said in a statement on X.
The attack on the Eternity C represents the most serious assault carried out by the Houthis in the crucial maritime trade route that once saw $1 trillion in cargo pass through annually.
A statement from the European Union naval mission in the Red Sea said the crew of the ship included 22 sailors, among them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, as well as a three-member security team. Those rescued were five Filipinos and one Indian, and another 15 people are considered missing, including a Greek member of the security team.
Four of the 25 people aboard the Eternity C cargo ship were killed before the rest of the crew abandoned the vessel, which sank on Wednesday morning after being attacked on Monday and Tuesday, sources at security companies involved in a rescue operation said.
The six seafarers who were rescued had spent more than 24 hours in the water, they said. The EU force earlier said one of the wounded crew had lost his leg.
“We will continue to search for the remaining crew until the last light,” said an official at Greece-based maritime risk management firm Diaplous.
Two security sources told Reuters that the vessel was hit with sea drones on Tuesday, forcing the crew and armed guards to abandon it. The Houthis stayed with the vessel until the early hours of Wednesday, one of the sources said.
In November 2023, the Houthis hijacked and captured the “Galaxy Leader” vessel, kidnapping its crew of 25 people — who hailed from the Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico — and only freeing them in January 2025. Israel carried out airstrikes on the vessel as part of a larger operation earlier this week.
The EU force said that the armed rebels had attacked the Eternity C on Monday with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, later using two drones and two drone boats carrying bombs to strike the vessel. The Eternity C sank at 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday, it added.
The ship likely had been targeted like the Magic Seas was on Sunday over its firm doing business with Israel. Neither vessel apparently requested an escort from the EU force.
Both of the ships that were attacked flew Liberia flags and were operated by Greek firms. Some of the sister vessels in each of their wider fleets had made calls to Israeli ports in the past year, shipping data analysis showed.
The US military has two aircraft carriers in the Mideast, the USS Nimitz and the USS Carl Vinson, but both are likely in the Arabian Sea, far from the site of the attacks. There are two American destroyers believed to be operating in the Red Sea. However, the ships attacked had no US ties and a ceasefire between the Houthis and America announced after the bombing campaign earlier this year still appears to be holding.
From November 2023 until the following December, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones in a campaign the rebels describe as supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iranian-backed rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by US President Donald Trump.
The attack on the Eternity C, as well as the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas in another attack Sunday, raises new questions about the Red Sea’s safety as ships had slowly begun returning to its waters. The assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since late 2024 in the waterway that had begun to see more ships pass through in recent weeks.
The attacks on the ships drew immediate international condemnation.
“We are now with grave concern seeing an escalation in the Red Sea with attacks on two commercial ships earlier this week by Ansar Allah, resulting in civilian loss of life and casualties as well as the potential for environmental damage,” warned United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg, using another name for the rebels.
“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. “The United States has been clear: We will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.