A FILIPINO seafarer was killed in a Houthi missile attack on a Liberian-flagged but Greek-owned bulk cargo carrier in the Red Sea last week, the US National Security Council said on Monday (US time).
NSC spokesperson John Kirby said the Filipino was one of the crew members of M/V Tutor.
There were 22 Filipinos aboard the vessel when it was attacked on Wednesday last week. Twenty-one were rescued on Friday and they returned to Manila on Monday. One remained missing.
The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said they have yet to confirm the information from the US.
“We remain hopeful and are in touch with the family of the (missing) seafarer,” the DMW said in a statement.
The DMW also said search operations for the missing seafarer will begin “as soon as the ship is taken to a safe port.”
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega also said search operations are set to start.
“No actual confirmation yet from the Philippine side. The Philippine Embassy in Athens under Ambassador Giovanni Palec met with the MV Tutor’s shipping principal, who informed Ambassador Palec that search operations for our missing seafarer shall be undertaken as soon as the ship is taken to a safe port,” he said.
De Vega said the DFA “remains hopeful and are in touch with the family of the seafarer.”
Seventeen Filipino seafarers from various vessels remain in the hands of the Houthi rebels.
Yemen’s Houthi is part of the so-called “axis of resistance” in the Middle East, supported and armed by Iran to oppose Israel in the region.
The group has launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on ships plying vital shipping zones of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, describing them as retaliation for Israel’s blistering offensive against Palestine’s Hamas.
The Houthis launched long-range missiles and attack drones on Israel since the Jewish state launched an offensive against Hamas following its October 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and other nationals.
Kirby said the attack on M/V Tutor had “nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza.”
“This is pure terrorism. There is simply no other word for it. The Houthi claim of supporting Gazans is meritless,” Kirby said at a press briefing at the White House. — With Gerard Naval
