Philippines will ask friendly countries for help in trying to ensure the release of nine Philippine sailors detained by Yemen insurgents, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. According to the AFP report, TASR reports this.
Iran’s support for Húsia at the beginning of July, two separate attacks on Greek cargo ships Magic Seas and Eternity C in the Red Sea. On Monday, 11 missing members of the Eternity C crew published that they had saved them. There were 25 people on board the ship – 21 Filipinos, one Russian and three armed security guards.
Allegations against the Húsi
Last week, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch has accused the insurgents of detaining the crew of the ship unlawfully and that their attacks on shipping represent war crimes. The United States has accused the hunches of kidnapping.
Deputy Philippine Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo de Vega confirmed that the Huses are detaining nine Philippine sailors. “I don’t want to use the term hostages. At least we know they’re alive,” he told AFP, saying that the Philippines do not plan to talk to Yemen’s insurgents directly, but they will seek help from friendly countries.
An unknown fate of the crew
The EU ASPIDES Naval Mission told the French agency that 15 out of 25 Eternity C crew members are still missing, four of whom are apparently dead.
The Húsi claims to have saved eleven people, including two injured from Eternity C and also picked up the body from the ship before sinking it due to their attack. According to AFP, the video has been captured by them when most of the Philippine crew was pulled out of the sea in rescue vests.
De Vega said that one of the nine Filipinos suffered an unspecified injury and that another crew member was also injured.
Previous Hulpi attacks
This is not the first time the Huses detain the crew of the vessel that has been the target of their attack. In January, they released mostly the Philippine crew of the Galaxy Leader shopping ship, which they detained for more than a year.
The Husy, who have been controlling a large part of Yemen for over a decade, began in November 2023 – shortly after the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip – to be shot in the Red Sea and the Gulf of the Gulf of the ship associated with Israel. They described the attacks as a manifestation of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, they have attacked over 100 ships. The attacks, with the exception of Israeli ships, paused for a while after they agreed with the US in May.
