Houthis Sink Eternity C in Red Sea; Four Dead, Eleven Seized

On 9 July, the cargo ship Eternity C sank in the southern Red Sea after Houthi fighters attacked it over two days. Four members of its Filipino crew are dead. Eleven others, Filipino and Indian nationals, were seized and are being held by Houthi forces.

The ship was Liberian-flagged and Greek-owned. It had just completed a delivery for the World Food Programme in Berbera, Somalia, and was heading to Jeddah to refuel. On 7 July, fighters in four speedboats approached near Al-Hudaydah, Yemen, and fired rockets and drones. The second attack, on the night of 8 July, forced the crew into the water.

By morning on 9 July, the ship was gone.

The European Union's Operation Aspides, deployed in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping, recovered survivors from the water. CNN reported ten crew members rescued in total. Search operations have since been called off. The ship carried roughly 25 people: 21 Filipino sailors, one Russian national, and three security personnel.

The same week, Houthi fighters also sank a second Liberian-flagged vessel, the bulk carrier Magic Seas. All 22 of that ship's crew were pulled to safety by a passing merchant vessel and brought to Djibouti.

UK Maritime Trade Operations issued Warning 080-26 on 6 July following the first attack on Eternity C.