Captain Lyubomir Chanev and Senior Mate Danail Veselinov have been released and are expected to return to Bulgaria today. The two sailors, part of the crew of the cargo ship "Galaxy Leader," were taken hostage in the Red Sea in late November 2023.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier seized in November 2023 at the start of their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.

The Houthis said over the weekend they would stop attacking transiting vessels as long as the cease-fire holds. But big-box ship operators said it would take some time before secu

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader more than a year after they seized their

MISANTLA, Mexico (AP) — Escorted by locals on bicycles and in cars that awaited his arrival outside his hometown in Mexico, Arturo Zacarías Meza returned home days after Houthi rebels in Yemen released him and his fellow crew members following more than a year in captivity.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has released the crew of a cargo ship more than a year after its fighters hijacked the vessel in the Red Sea, as part of its campaign of attacks in support of Hamas in its war against Israel.

Operations at a Red Sea port in Yemen used for aid imports have fallen to about a quarter of its capacity, a UN official said on Tuesday, adding it was not certain that a Gaza ceasefire would end attacks between the Iran-backed Houthis and Israel.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader more than a year after they seized the Bahamas-flagged vessel off the Yemeni Red Sea coast, Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV reported on Wednesday.

The Iranian-backed rebel group in Yemen had earlier said they would scale back attacks given the cease-fire in the conflict in Gaza.

The US branded the Houthi release of the Galaxy Leader crew as insufficient and demanded a permanent end to the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The State Department welcomed the release of the 25-strong crew from the 5,100-ceu car carrier (built 2002) but said that the ship remained “stolen property” of the rebel group.

The United States and Japan called on Yemen's Iran-backed rebel group Houthis to cease its attacks in the Red Sea following the release of the detained MV Galaxy Leader crew on January 22.