Yemen Monitor/New York/Exclusive:
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday published new details about the Houthi attack on the vessel “Eternity C,” which resulted in the death of four crew members. The Houthis also prevented a commercial ship from rescuing the remaining 21 crew members.
According to the newspaper, the Houthi attack on the “Eternity C” began on Monday evening, less than five miles from the attack site of the “Magic Seas,” and unfolded in a largely similar manner, according to a report from the Joint Maritime Information Center.
The “Eternity C” was sailing empty, en route to Saudi Arabia—though the Houthis claimed the vessel was heading to the Israeli port of Eilat—when it was surrounded by several small boats armed with rocket-propelled grenades. Over the next two hours, a series of strikes disabled the ship’s propulsion system and caused significant damage to its engine room.
In an audio recording of the distress call reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the phone operator can be heard shouting: “Mayday, mayday, mayday, we are under attack!” and urgently requesting assistance.
Fighting continued into the next day, with the Houthis launching missiles and drones. A commercial vessel attempted to assist, but armed individuals surrounded the damaged ship and prevented it, according to a Cosmosthip officer and a spokesperson for Aspides company. The security team ran out of ammunition, and the crew abandoned the ship as it began to sink.
Cosmosthip hired a private company to launch a rescue operation on Wednesday morning. Ten crew members were recovered from the sea, while fifteen remain missing, including at least three crew members who died in the engine room.
The Houthis announced they had captured several crew members of the “Eternity C.” The US Mission in Yemen confirmed that the sailors were kidnapped by the Houthis and called for their safe release.
Maritime security experts and the United States stated that these Houthi attacks were the most violent since the militants began targeting ships in November 2023 to support Hamas in the armed group’s war with Israel in Gaza.
Ellie Shafiq, head of maritime intelligence at the British company Vanguard Tech, said: “This is the worst damage they have inflicted in 48 hours. It’s the worst in terms of the number of successful and concentrated attacks.”
