Yemen's Houthis claim recent Red Sea attack on merchant ship

Yemen's Ansar Allah group claimed responsibility for an attack earlier this week that sank a merchant vessel - the second ship to be hit in less than 24 hours.

"The naval force of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted the ship (Eternity C)," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and saying the vessel was headed towards Eilat in Israel.

Rescuers pulled six crew members alive from the Red Sea on Wednesday and were searching for 15 still missing from the second of two freighters sunk in as many days by the Yemeni group, Reuters reported.

Four of the 25 people aboard the Eternity C cargo ship were killed before the rest of the crew abandoned the vessel, which sank on Wednesday morning after being attacked on Monday and Tuesday, sources at security companies involved in a rescue operation told Reuters.

Reporting by AFP and Reuters