An Indian sailor was killed in an attack on a US-owned oil tanker near Iraq, taking the number of Indian sailors killed since the start of the Iran-US conflict to three.
The US-owned oil tanker Safesea Vishnu, sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, was attacked near Basra, Iraq, on Wednesday, the Indian Embassy in Baghdad said on social media on Thursday.
The embassy said that an Indian crew member “unfortunately lost his life” in the attack, and the remaining 15 Indian crew members on board the tanker were “evacuated to a safe location.”
The Embassy in Baghdad is in regular contact with the Iraqi authorities and the rescued Indian sailors and is providing all possible assistance. “The embassy expresses its sincere condolences to the family members of the deceased crew member,” a social media post said.
An Indian crew member was killed on board the MKD Vyom, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, when the ship was attacked by a drone boat 52 nautical miles off the coast of Muscat Governorate in the early days of the conflict.
An Indian sailor was killed and another reported missing when Iranian forces targeted the Palau-flagged oil tanker Skylight in waters near the Musandam Peninsula in Oman.
Indian officials said on Wednesday that 24 Indian-flagged commercial ships are currently in the Persian Gulf. A total of 24 Indian-flagged ships carrying 677 Indian sailors are to the west of the Strait of Hormuz, while four ships carrying 101 Indian sailors are to the east of the vital waterway.
Indians make up approximately 12% of the global maritime workforce, with a total of more than 320,000 active seafarers, and attacks on merchant ships during most conflicts in West Asia have resulted in Indian casualties.
