Two injured, two missing after suspected Houthi attack on Red Sea ship
The assault on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Eternity C began on Monday night, when it was targeted by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones as it made its way north towards the Suez Canal, the EU's anti-piracy mission Operation Atalanta said.
The ship's crew consists of 21 Filipinos and one Russian, plus three security personnel, the EU force added.
The Eternity C remains "surrounded by small craft and is under continuous attack", the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said on Tuesday.
Although the Houthis — a rebel group which controls much of northern and western Yemen, including the capital Sana'a — have not claimed the attack, Yemen's exiled government and the EU force blamed the rebels for the attack.
The latest assault in the Red Sea came shortly after the Houthis claimed to have sunk another ship, which they targeted in the same area on Sunday.
The Magic Seas, which, like the Eternity C, is Liberian-flagged but Greek-owned, was around 100 kilometres southwest of Yemen's Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida when it came under fire.
Forced to abandon the vessel, its 22-person crew was rescued by an Abu Dhabi Ports ship.
Yahya Saree, the Houthis' military spokesman, said the group had carried out the attack on the Magic Seas. He later claimed it had sunk.
The developments in the important shipping corridor coincide with a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as the US President Donald Trump tries to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.
Shortly after starting his second term in January, Trump began a series of strikes against the Houthis, who had targeted more than 100 merchant ships in the Red Sea between November 2023 and January 2025 in response to Israel's war in Gaza.
The Houthi attacks during that period sank two of the boats and killed four sailors, and heavily reduced the flow of shipping trade through the Red Sea, which usually sees $1 trillion worth of goods move through it each year.
The Trump administration announced in May that it would stop its strikes against the Houthis, saying they had agreed to stop attacking commercial ships.
Since then, Israel and the Houthis have continued to launch missiles against each other.
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