Manila says two Filipinos among fatalities in Houthi ship strike

Two Filipino crew members were among those killed in a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Philippine government says.

Those killed in the attack on Wednesday appear to be first deaths resulting from Houthi attacks on merchant vessels transiting the key Red Sea trade route.

“With great sadness, the Department of Migrant Workers confirms the deaths of two Filipino seafarers in the most recent attack by Houthi rebels on ships plying the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,” the agency says in a statement.

“We are also informed that two other Filipino crewmen were severely injured in the attack on their ship,” it added.

Manila is liaising with the ship owners and its crewing agency “to ascertain the conditions of the rest of the ship’s crew,” the department said.

An anti-ship ballistic missile struck the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned M/V True Confidence, after which its crew reported “three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship,” the US Central Command said earlier.