India on Wednesday condemned attacks on commercial ships during the conflict in West Asia after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps opened fire on a Thai-flagged ship heading to the country.
Three ships were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing the number of commercial ships attacked in the region since the start of the Iran-US conflict to 13, maritime security companies said on Wednesday.
Twenty crew members from the Thai-flagged ship Mayuree Naree have been rescued, and three others remain missing, the Thai Ministry of Transport said. The crew abandoned the ship in a lifeboat and were rescued by the Omani Navy. An update from the Directorate General of Shipping in India said that there was no Indian crew on board the plane.
The Ministry of External Affairs referred to the attack on Mayuri Nare and said that the ship was heading to Kandla port in India.
“India regrets the fact that commercial shipping has become the target of military attacks in the ongoing conflict in West Asia,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Precious lives, including Indian citizens, have already been lost in several similar attacks in the previous phase of this conflict, and the intensity and lethality of attacks appears to be increasing,” she added.
Two Indian sailors were killed and another was missing after attacks on two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in the early stages of the conflict.
“India reiterates that targeting commercial vessels, endangering innocent civilian crew members, or otherwise impeding freedom of navigation and trade should be avoided,” the statement said.
Indians make up approximately 12% of the global maritime workforce, with a total of over 320,000 active seafarers.
Shipping along the narrow Strait of Hormuz has been virtually halted since Israel and the United States launched military strikes on Iran on February 28, blocking exports of about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies and pushing global oil prices to heights not seen since 2022.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which has warned that any ship passing through the strait will be targeted, said in a statement that the Mayuri Nare “was fired upon by Iranian fighters.”
Precious Shipping, the operator of the Mayuri Nari, said the ship was hit by “two shells of unknown origin” while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire and damage to the engine room.
She added that the three missing crew members are believed to be trapped in the engine room. The remaining 20 crew members were ashore in Oman.
