DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank Wednesday in the Red Sea, and a European naval force in the Mideast said only six of the 25 people who were on board have been rescued.
The attack on the Eternity C, which also killed at least three of the crew, represents the most serious assault carried out by the Houthis in the crucial maritime trade route where $1 trillion in cargo once passed through annually.
From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones in a campaign the rebels describe as supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iranian-backed rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The attack on the Eternity C, as well as the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas in another attack Sunday, raise new questions about the Red Sea’s safety as ships had slowly begun returning to its waters. Meanwhile, a new possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war — as well as the future of talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program — remain in the balance.
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