By Renee Maltezou and Jonathan Saul
ATHENS (Reuters) -Rescuers pulled seven crew members alive from the Red Sea on Wednesday and were searching for 14 still missing from the second of two freighters sunk within two days by suspected Houthi attackers.
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 mounting the rescue said.
The seven seafarers who were rescued had spent more than 24 hours in the water, they said.
There was no comment from the Houthis on the fate of the Eternity C, but the group claimed responsibility for a similar attack on Sunday targeting another ship, the Magic Seas. All crew from the Magic Seas were rescued before it sank.
The attacks on the two ships renew a campaign by the Iran-aligned fighters, who had attacked more than 100 ships from November 2023-December 2024 in what they said was solidarity with the Palestinians, but had halted their campaign this year.
“We will continue to search for the remaining crew until the last light,” said an official at Greece-based maritime risk management firm Diaplous.
“We aim at a peaceful operation,” the official said earlier.
Both of the ships that were attacked flew Liberia flags and were operated by Greek firms.
Eternity C was first attacked on Monday afternoon with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from speed boats by suspected Yemen-based 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 on Wednesday that the vessel was hit again with sea drones on Tuesday, forcing the crew and armed guards to abandon it for the sea. The Houthis stayed with the vessel until the early hours of Wednesday, one of the sources said.
There were fears that some of the crew who jumped into the water may have been kidnapped by Houthis, the source added. Skiffs were in the area as the rescue efforts were under way.
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. But if confirmed, the four reported deaths would be the first fatalities involving 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.
The Red Sea, which passes Yemen’s coast, has long been a critical waterway for the world’s oil and commodities. Traffic has dropped since the Iran-aligned Houthi militia began targeting ships in November 2023 in what the group said was solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou, Yannis Souliotis and Jonathan SaulEditing by Jan Harvey, Saad Sayeed, Jason Neely, Peter Graff)
