Three Indian nationals were killed in Iranian attacks on two commercial ships in the waters off the coast of Oman on Monday. One of the Indian nationals has reportedly been identified as 25-year-old Dixit Solanki, a resident of Mumbai.
Solanki was on board the MKD VYOM ship which was hit by a shell. The Indian Embassy in Amman confirmed the “tragic death of an Indian national” in a social media post.
The Indian Express newspaper reported that the Indian citizen was on board the ship with 25 other crew members, and the ship was heading to Sultan Qaboos Port in Muscat.
According to the report, Solanki was the younger son of Amritlal Solanki, who runs a fishing business, while Dixit’s sister lives in Dubai. He moved to Mumbai from Bhavsarvada area of Diu and was living in Kandivali district. About a month ago, Dixit came to Mumbai to attend his mother’s last rites.
HT previously reported that the MKD Vyom was flying a Marshall Islands flag and was attacked by a drone boat about 52 nautical miles off the coast of Muscat Governorate.
The attack led to a fire and explosion in the main engine room.
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The Indian Embassy in Oman said in a post
This incident was the first time targets near Oman were struck following a wave of retaliatory strikes launched by Iran after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on it.
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Two other Indian nationals were also killed this week and were part of another tanker, Skylight, which was flying the Palau flag. Iranian forces targeted the ship in waters near Oman’s Musandam Peninsula over the weekend.
