Six crew rescued, 15 missing after Houthis sink latest Greek ship in Red Sea

By Renee Maltezou and Jonathan Saul

ATHENS (Reuters) -Rescuers pulled six crew members alive from the Red Sea after Houthi militants attacked and sank a second ship this week, while the fate of another 15 was unknown after the Iran-aligned group said they held some of the seafarers.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the assault that maritime officials say killed four of the 25 people aboard the Eternity C before the rest abandoned the cargo ship. Eternity C went down Wednesday morning after attacks on two previous days, sources at security companies involved in a rescue operation said.

The six rescued seafarers spent more than 24 hours in the water, those firms said.

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 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 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. Reuters could not independently verify the audio or the location of the ship, which it verified was the Eternity C.

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 U.S. 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.

Leading shipping industry associations, including the International Chamber of Shipping and BIMCO, denounced the deadly operation and called for robust maritime security in the region via a joint statement on Wednesday.

"These vessels have been attacked with callous disregard for the lives of innocent civilian seafarers," they said.

"This tragedy illuminates the need for nations to maintain robust support in protecting shipping and vital sea lanes."

RESCUE SEARCH

The Eternity C and the Magic Seas both 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. 

"We will continue to search for the remaining crew until the last light," said an official at Greece-based maritime risk management firm Diaplous.

The EU's Aspides naval mission, which protects Red Sea shipping, confirmed in a statement that six people had been pulled from the sea.    

The Red Sea, which passes Yemen's coast, has long been a critical waterway for the world's oil and commodities but traffic has dropped sharply since the Houthi attacks began.

The number of daily sailings through the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait, at the southern tip of the Red Sea and a gateway to the Gulf of Aden, numbered 30 vessels on July 8, from 34 ships on July 6 and 43 on July 1, according to data from maritime data group Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, maintaining their highest levels since June 23, also due to the recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea. 

MULTIPLE ATTACKS

Eternity C was first attacked on Monday afternoon with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from speed boats by suspected Houthi militants, maritime security sources said. Lifeboats were destroyed during the raid. By Tuesday morning the vessel was adrift and listing. 

Two security sources told Reuters that the vessel was hit again 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.

Skiffs were in the area as rescue efforts were underway.

The crew comprised 21 Filipinos and one Russian. Three armed guards were also on board, including one Greek and one Indian, who was one of those rescued. 

The vessel's operator, Cosmoship Management, has not responded to requests for confirmation of casualties or injuries. If confirmed, the four reported deaths would be the first fatalities from attacks on shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024.

Greece has been in talks with Saudi Arabia, a key player in the region, over the latest incident, according to sources. 

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou, Yannis Souliotis, Jonathan Saul and Mohammed Ghobari, additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los AngelesEditing by Jan Harvey, Saad Sayeed, Jason Neely, Peter Graff, Aidan Lewis and Deepa Babington)