Two crew members were killed and at least two others injured when the Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C came under attack Monday evening off the coast of Yemen, officials said at a U.N. maritime meeting on Tuesday.
The vessel was struck by sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades launched from speedboats about 50 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, according to maritime security sources and the ship’s operator, Cosmoship Management. The attack left the ship listing and added to growing fears over Red Sea shipping security.
The fatalities mark the first seafarer deaths in the Red Sea since June 2024 and raise the total number of crew members killed in attacks on commercial vessels in the region to six, Liberia’s delegation said during a meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London.
The attack came just a day after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a strike on another Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged ship — the Magic Seas — which the group said sank. “Just as Liberia was processing the shock and grief of the attack against Magic Seas, we received word that Eternity C had also been attacked — horribly — with two more seafarers lost,” the Liberian delegate told the IMO.
The Eternity C had 22 crew members aboard — 21 Filipinos and one Russian — at the time of the assault. The EU’s naval Operation Aspides confirmed this was the second major attack on merchant vessels in the Red Sea since November 2024.