Yemen’s Houthi militia has taken hostage some of the crew members of a cargo ship they attacked earlier this week, the U.S. Mission to Yemen said on Wednesday on social media. The move is an escalation of a conflict that has already disrupted global shipping.
“We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release,” the Embassy’s statement said.
The Houthi attack on Monday on the Eternity C, a Liberian-flagged vessel that was sailing through the Red Sea, killed at least two of its crew members, according to Liberian officials who spoke to a United Nations meeting on Tuesday.
A Houthi military spokesman, Yahya al-Sarea, said in a statement on Wednesday that the militia had attacked the ship with cruise and ballistic missiles because it was headed to an Israeli port. The Times could not independently confirm the ship’s destination.
Mr. al-Sarea said that after the attack, the group “responded to rescue a number of the ship’s crew, provide them with medical care and transport them to a safe location.”
He did not specify how many crew members the Houthis had transported, where they were taken or when they would be released. In 2023, the militia seized a ship called the Galaxy Leader and held its crew hostage for more than a year.
The Houthi statement also did not mention the crew members who were killed.
On Tuesday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi political official, declined to comment on the attack but told the Times that the group “cares about the safety of sailors.”
Officials from the Houthis, an Iran-backed group that controls a large part of Yemen, shared video footage on social media that they said showed the Eternity C sinking into the sea, overlaid with dramatic music and voices chanting the Houthi slogan: “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews, victory for Islam.”
The Houthis began assaulting ships in the Red Sea after the war between Hamas and Israel erupted in 2023. The Houthis say their campaign is an attempt to pressure Israel to stop its bombardment of Gaza and allow the free flow of humanitarian aid to two million Palestinians who are facing catastrophic hunger there.
Because Houthi territory abuts a vital waterway in the Red Sea that ships must pass to reach the Suez Canal, the attacks have disrupted global trade, forcing container ships to take a longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Eunavfor Aspides, a European Union military operation, said on Wednesday that it had rescued six castaway crew members of the Eternity C. It was unclear how many crew members were on the ship when it came under fire.
The attack was the second such assault by the Houthis on a cargo ship this week. The attacks are likely to renew concerns that a vital trade route is no longer safe, despite President Trump’s announcing a truce with the Houthis in May that he said would restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
Shuaib Almosawa contributed reporting from Sana, Yemen.
Vivian Nereim is the lead reporter for The Times covering the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. She is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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