Red Sea Piracy
"There was panic, but we knew we had to move. It's like we were on autopilot. [The crew] were in a daze, but they were all rushing to do their assigned jobs for our safety protocol ... maybe I looked dazed too."
"There were speedboats from the right, left and back of our ship. There was also a bigger boat with around 15 crew who were attempting to board our ship, but luckily, our armed guards were able to stop them."
"I lost count of how many hits we took. The flooding had started so we decided to abandon the ship. We deployed our lifeboat, all 22 of us, and left our main vessel."
Filipino seafarer Cocoy
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| Smoke plumes rising on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas after an
attack by the Houthis in the Red Sea, on July 8, 2025. (ANSARULLAH MEDIA
CENTRE / AFP) |
Off-duty and resting in his cabin, Filipino sailor Cocoy was sent into shock when he heard his captain's voice boom over the cargo ship's intercom: "We are under attack". The sound he had earlier heard like a knock from within the vessel was then revealed to his realization that what he had dismissed as an ordinary ship's sound was that of gunfire exchanged by ship security and Houthi terrorists whose small boats were swarming the ship.
The assault on the Greek-owned Magic Seas on July 6 was the first in a long lull, with the Yemeni Houthis having agreed to suspend their attacks on Red Sea Shipping in an agreement with the U.S. to suspend bombing them in response to their predations on international shipping. Following the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel and the IDF's bombing in Gaza to target the Palestinian terrorist group, Iran's Yemen proxies decided they would impose pirate-actions on any ships they identified as having a link to Israel, whether through ownership or trade.
Cocoy and the other crew members aboard the Magic Seas scrambled toward the "muster station" at ship's center, considered to represent the safest area on the ship should a projectile strike the vessel. There were 22 sailors aboard the ship, of whom 17 were Filipino. They huddled inside the muster station for close to five hours while the ship's three armed Sri Lankan security guards did their best to counter the attack.
"During the gunfight, the faces of my wife and child flashed before my eyes. I kept thinking ... will they survive without me?"
"I thought I was going to die."
"They were the longest hours of my life."
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| This handout image released by Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah Media Centre on
July 8, 2025, reportedly shows Houthi-affiliated fighters carrying out
an attack on the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas at sea. (Photo
by ANSARULLAH MEDIA CENTRE / AFP) |
Five ballistic and cruise missiles and three drones had been used by the Houthis in their attack on the ship. Filipino sailors sent home to the Philippines close to $7 billion in 2023, an amount representing a fifth of remittances its nationals forward to the archipelago nation. Up to 30 percent of the globe's commercial shipping force is comprised of Filipino sailors. Despite his 15 years as a seafarer, this was the first passage that Cocoy had experienced through the Red Sea, one he spoke of as a case of "really bad timing".
Cocoy and his shipmates spent three hours floating in the Red Sea after abandoning ship, before being picked up by a Panama-flagged container ship. They watched as the Magic Seas sank beneath the waves. A week later yet another vessel, crewed in large part by Filipino sailors, was attacked and sunk. Ten of those aboard the Eternity C, were rescued, while 15 of the crew are either dead or missing in the deadliest such assault since last March, when three people were killed in a Houthi missile attack on another ship.
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| Members of the crew of the Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged commercial vessel
Magic Seas, posing for a picture with the crew of the Safeen Prism,
after they were rescued following a Houthi attack that forced them to
abandon ship, in the Red Sea on July 6, 2025. (UAE’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and International Cooperation / AFP) |
The Houthis announced last week that they had "rescued" a number of the Eternity C's crew, to take them to a 'safe location'. The US. government promptly charged them with kidnapping. Lloyd's List, a maritime news journal, reported six Filipino seafarers as "believed taken hostage". Plagued by nightmares of the attack, Cocoy feels uncertain whether he will return to the sea, urging ship owners to discover routes avoiding the Red Sea.
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| This handout picture provided by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs
reportedly shows members of the Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged Magic Seas
commercial vessel climbing on board the Safeen Prism, after being
rescued following a Houthi attack that forced them to abandon ship, in
the Red Sea on July 6, 2025. (UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation / AFP) |
"I felt terrified for the [missing] Eternity C crew."
"We were just lucky, because all of us survived ... I pray that many of their crew can still be located live."
"What happened to us was not normal. It's something that no one should ever experience."
Filipino Seafarer Cocoy
Labels: Carnage at Sea, Filipino Sailors, Houthi Pirates, Red Sea, Yemen
Houthi Escalation in the Red Sea
"We are now with grave concern seeing an escalation in the Red Sea with attacks on two commercial ships earlier this week by Ansar Allah, resulting in civilian loss of life and casualties as well as the potential for environmental damage."
United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg
"We remain deeply concerned for the welfare of the crew members in the
custody of the Houthis, as well as for those currently unaccounted for."
"Their safety and swift release
must be a priority for all involved."
Ellie Shafik, head of intelligence, UK-based maritime
risk management company Vanguard Tech
"[The US state department condemns the
attacks on the Magic Seas and Eternity C, which] demonstrate the
ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of
navigation and to regional economic and maritime security."
"The
United States has been clear: we will continue to take necessary action
to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi
terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the
international community."
U.S. State Department
"After several months of calm, the
resumption of deplorable attacks in the Red Sea constitutes a renewed
violation of international law and freedom of navigation."
"Innocent seafarers and local populations are the main victims of these attacks and the pollution they cause."
Arsenio
Dominguez, secretary-general, International Maritime Organization (IMO)
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| A crew member being rescued on Wednesday age 48 hours afloat. Photograph: Diaplous/Reuters |
The Yemeni Houthi terrorist group is back at it again, attacking civil shipping in the Red Sea. Two ships were attacked, some of their crews dying in the attack, others taken prisoner, others still rescued from the water after having spent two days clinging to life-support systems. Liberian-flagged Eternity C cargo ship sank on Wednesday with only six of its 25 crew aboard rescued, according to a European naval force in the Mideast.
Three of the crew on the Eternity C were killed, the most serious assault by the Houthis in the maritime trade route to date. A route that once had $1 trillion in cargo pass through every year. Houthis targeted over 100 ships with missiles and drones from November of 2023 to December of 2024 in their campaign of support to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas conflict.
During a brief ceasefire in the war, the Houthi terrorists, supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, halted their attacks. They were earlier targeted by an intense campaign of weeks of airstrikes ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. The sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas in another earlier attack on Sunday, and then the attack on the Eternity C, raises new concerns relating to the ongoing safety of the Red Sea as a shipping route.
Ships had gradually been returning to the Red Sea following the U.S. airstrikes. Today, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against the Yemeni port of Hudaydah in reprisal against the drones and missiles sent by the Houthi forces into Israel. "Due to the terrorist Houthi regime's use of seaports for its terrorist
activities, we urge all those present at these ports to evacuate and
stay away from them for your own safety until further notice," IDF
Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
According to the European Union naval mission in the Red Sea, the ship's crew was comprised of 22 sailors, among them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, along with a three-member security team. During the hours-long attack on the ship, three people were killed. The ship had been attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. Two drones and two drone boats carrying bombs to strike the vessel were later used, sinking the Eternity C, on Wednesday.
Like the Magic Seas struck several days earlier, the Eternity C had likely been targeted over its owners conducting business with Israel. Neither vessel had requested an escort from the EU force. While the EU force was still searching for those on board with private industry rescuers, a Houthi military spokesman claimed the attack in a pre-recorded message Wednesday night.
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| The Eternity C sinking after the attack Photograph: Houthi handout/EPA |
Labels: Houthi Allies of Hamas, Houthi Terrorist Attacks, Iranian Influence, Israel-Hamas Conflict, Maritime Shipping, Red Sea
Apprehending Weaponry Heading for Yemen, Houthis
"Initial analysis indicates these same weapons [as were discovered being carried by a ship bound for Yemen's Houthi rebels last week] have been employed by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent mariners on international merchant ships transiting in the Red Sea."
U.S. Central Command
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| This undated photograph released by the U.S. military's Central Command
shows what it is described as Iranian-made missile components bound for
Yemen's Houthi seized off a vessel in the Arabian Sea. U.S. Navy SEALs
seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry from a ship bound
for Yemen's Houthi rebels in a raid that saw two of its commandos go
missing, the U.S. military said Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (U.S. Central
Command via AP) |
Iranian manufactured weaponry was seized by U.S. Navy SEALs last week in a raid on a ship in the Red Sea, marking the latest seizure by the U.S. Navy and its allies targeting weapons shipments in transit to the Yemen-based Houthi terrorist group. The Houthis have turned to piracy in the last several months in emulation of their sponsors, the Islamic Republic of Iran whose IRGC speedboats have harassed ships in the Persian Gulf for far longer.
Global trade has been threatened by the Houthis' attacks, presumably their stated response to the Israeli invasion of Gaza, purposing to destroy Hamas's terrorist network following the October 7 bloodbath perpetrated in southern Israel when Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives stormed through breaches in the separation wall, to murder 1,400 Israelis, torture, mutilate and mass rape Israeli girls and women, and take 250 children, women, the elderly and foreign farm workers hostage in Gaza.
Among the seized missile parts there were weapons thought to have been used in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7. Tensions have been raised to the critical point across the wider Middle East, where Iran conducted ballistic missile strikes in Iraq and Syria, prompting those two Iran allies to cry foul and recall their missions to Iran.
The SEAL raid occurred a week ago, its commandos launched from the USS Lewis B. Puller, backed with drones and helicopters where the encounter took place in the Arabian Sea, according to the Central Command of the U.S. military. The SEALS had sped toward their target in small special operations combat craft driven by naval special warfare crew.
As the SEALS were boarding the target ship in rough seas, one SEAL was knocked off the boat by high waves causing a teammate to go in after him. Both SEALS remain missing.
Cruise and ballistic missile components including propulsion and guidance devices along with warheads were found. As well, air defence parts were in the shipment. Components resembling rocket motors and others previously seized, were among the images released by the U.S. military. Included were what appeared to be an anti-ship cruise missile with a small turbojet engine, a type made use of by both the Houthis and Iran.
"Looking at the size and the robustness of the thing, it looks a lot like an anti-ship warhead", stated Fabian Hinz, missile expert, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who identified the warhead as a knock-off of an earlier Chinese design. He noted as well that the warhead in the photo bore a sticker reading "GHAD", and that Iran has an anti-ship missile called the Ghadir.
Ultimately, the ship was deliberately sunk by the U.S. Navy, after it was deemed to be unsafe. The ship's 14 crew were detained.
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| This undated photograph released by the U.S. military's Central Command
shows what it is described as the vessel that carried Iranian-made
missile components bound for Yemen's Houthi in the Arabian Sea. U.S.
Navy SEALs seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry from a
ship bound for Yemen's Houthi rebels in a raid that saw two of its
commandos go missing, the U.S. military said Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.
(U.S. Central Command via AP) |
Labels: Houthi Pirates, Marine Traffic, Red Sea, U.S. Centcom
