Death toll rises to 4 in Houthis' attack on cargo ship, EU says

Four crew members of a cargo ship attacked and sunk by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this week are presumed dead, the European Union’s Aspides naval force deployed in the area said Friday, as search operations continue in the Red Sea.

“Fifteen crew members are missing. The four presumed victims are among those missing,” Aspides told AFP, citing a private company in charge of search and rescue operations. On Tuesday, Aspides told AFP that three people had been killed and at least two injured in the attack.

The Iran-backed Houthis attacked the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Eternity C on Monday off the port city of Hodeida, an attack that lasted for two days before the ship sank. This was the second attack on commercial shipping in this strategic maritime corridor in as many days, after several months of calm, as the Houthis resumed attacks on ships they accuse of ties to Israel due to the war in Gaza.

“According to our information, the search and rescue operation carried out by the private company in the area of the attack is ongoing,” the European naval force said. There were 25 people on board the ship, according to Aspides. The Houthis claimed Wednesday to have “rescued” an unspecified number of crew members from the Eternity C and taken them to a safe location. The U.S. Embassy in Yemen accused the rebels of kidnapping the survivors.

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, had suspended their attacks shortly before a brief truce in Gaza in January, then resumed them in recent days. Since late 2023, the Houthis have attacked dozens of ships they consider linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen, and then American vessels, claiming to act in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has faced more than 21 months of war between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas.