A crew member of the Dutch cargo ship that was attacked by the Iran-backed Houthis in the Gulf of Aden last week has died of his injuries, the vessel’s Amsterdam-based operator Spliethoff says in a statement.
The company does not release further details about the deceased crew member, but a spokesperson tells a Dutch broadcaster they were Filipino.
The vessel, Minervagracht, was in international waters in the Gulf of Aden when it was struck by an explosive device that inflicted substantial damage and started a fire on the ship. A helicopter was used to rescue 19 of its crew, who are Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino and Sri Lankan.
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre that sparked the war in Gaza.
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