RETURNING HOME. Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Bernard Olalia updates the media on the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City on July 12, 2025. Olalia said the rest of the Filipino crew members of the ill-fated MV Magic Seas are scheduled to return to the Philippines on Saturday. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is still verifying reports that three of 21 Filipino crew members aboard MV Eternity C were killed by the Houthi rebels, Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said on Saturday.

In a news forum in Quezon City, Olalia said reports that three of the 13 missing Filipino seafarers were already dead are “unconfirmed,” adding that he believes that they are still alive.

READ: DMW: 8 of 21 Filipino crew of besieged MV Eternity C rescued

“We strongly believe that they are still alive because their companions who survived there for more than 48 hours, floating, were rescued, and hopefully, we can also save most of those who are missing,” Olalia said.

According to Olalia, they have to interview the rescued eight seafarers first to identify the exact number of deaths from the Houthi attack.

“Because they will say that someone died on the ship during the missile attack, and maybe there are missing people whose whereabouts are not yet known, so we can know the total number of casualties,” Olalia explained.

He added that the DMW has already coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of National Defense for the ongoing search and rescue operations of the 13 unaccounted crew members aboard the sunken MV Eternity C.

“They are already speaking with their foreign counterparts there so that the search efforts can be sustained and we can find our additional missing seafarers,” the DMW undersecretary said.

“One of our challenges is that we know that the Houthis have taken some. The problem is, we don’t know the exact number they have captured so we can’t say how many more we should look for,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Olalia said in the same news forum that the 11 Filipino seafarers aboard the MV Magic Seas, which was also attacked by Houthi rebels, are set to return to the Philippines this Saturday evening.

The DMW earlier announced that Houthi rebels aboard small boats attacked the MV Magic Seas and MV Eternity C manned by Filipino seafarers, sailing through the Red Sea near Yemen.

These attacks were the latest to be carried out by the rebels, who had been targeting vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas conflict started to break out in 2023. /cb