Survivors Describe Chaos as Second Missile Hit Yemeni Ship During Rescue
Survivors of a Houthi missile attack on a commercial ship off Yemen describe a second strike during rescue efforts, which killed six.
Crew members of a commercial vessel attacked by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen have described the terrifying moments when a second missile hit their ship just as rescue operations were beginning, compounding the chaos and casualties.
The attack, which occurred before dawn on Tuesday in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, involved three ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-backed group. The ship was approaching port when it was struck. Yemeni authorities confirmed that six people were killed and at least nine others were injured in the assault.
Speaking from a hospital in the port city of Mokha, survivors recounted scenes of intense fire and panic. Zaheer Ahmed, a Pakistani crew member injured in both legs, described the ordeal as "a strange scene of doomsday," noting that people were burning and that he had to shout for help before a Yemeni soldier came to his aid.
Muhammad Alteno, an Indonesian crew member, said he was in "complete shock" after witnessing a fellow Indonesian crew member and friend die in the attack. He recounted trying to rescue his friend, who was trapped in their shared room after the first strike, but the flames were too intense. "I managed to escape with some of the (other) crew members," he said.
The fatalities included three Pakistani crew members and two members of Yemen's government-allied National Resistance Forces. The attack marks the Houthis' first deadly strike on a vessel this year in the strait, a critical waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden that carries roughly 12% of global trade.
The assault is part of a broader escalation by the Houthis, who have recently intensified attacks on government-held areas, including Mokha, as well as on troops and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The group had declared a blockade on Saudi-linked ships in the strait, citing a yearslong siege on Yemen and recent strikes on the capital, Sanaa.
The renewed violence threatens to reignite Yemen's civil war, which had been largely paused by a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022, and risks opening a new front in the wider Middle East conflict. During a similar blockade announced during the Gaza war, the Houthis attacked over 100 vessels before a U.S. and Israeli air campaign halted those attacks in early 2025.