ATHENS/LONDON (Reuters) -Two crew members of the Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C were killed in a drone and speedboat attack off Yemen on Monday evening, Liberia's shipping delegation told a meeting of the International Maritime Organization on Tuesday.
The deaths on the vessel, the first involving shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024, bring the total number of seafarers killed in attacks on vessels in the vital shipping corridor to six.
Monday's attack on Eternity C, 50 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, was the second on merchant vessels in the region since November 2024, according to an official at the European Union´s Operation Aspides, assigned to help protect Red Sea shipping.
Hours before the attack, the Iran-aligned Houthi militant group claimed responsibility for a strike on the Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated MV Magic Seas bulk carrier off southwest Yemen on Sunday, saying the ship sank.
"Just as Liberia was processing the shock and grief of the attack against Magic Seas, we received a report that Eternity C again has been attacked, attacked horribly and causing death of two seafarers," Liberia's delegate told the U.N. shipping agency's gathering.
At least two crew members were injured, the vessel's operator, Cosmoship Management, and maritime security sources told Reuters, adding that the ship was listing.
Eternity C, with 22 crew members - 21 Filipinos and one Russian - on board, was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speedboats, sources told Reuters.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Renee Maltezou; editing by Sharon Singleton and Mark Heinrich)
