The Indian Ministry of Shipping said on Thursday that a container ship flying the Panama flag was fired upon by Iranian boats amid escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, and 21 Indian crew members were on board, safe and secure, even as another container ship headed to India after crossing the waterway.
The Euphoria is one of three ships that were attacked by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday as Tehran confronted the US blockade imposed on its ships, seeking to reassert its control over the strait that usually represents the route for a fifth of the world’s oil supplies. Other ships attacked were the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberian-registered Epaminondas – which were bound for the port of Mundra in India.
“The ship Euphoria had 21 Indian sailors on board, and all of them are safe,” Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Shipping, Mukesh Mangal, said at an inter-ministerial press conference on Thursday. Euphoria also has a Burmese crew member.
Mangal said the ship Epaminonda had an Indian crew member and was also safe.
“No Indian sailors were injured in the firing on ships flying foreign flags,” he added, according to a report by news agency ANI.
The Francesca, which Iranian media said was detained along with the ship Epaminonda in the port of Bandar Abbas, did not have any Indian crew.
Iranian media reported that the ship Euphoria was stranded on the Iranian coast after the attack. Ship tracking websites show that the ship is close to the coast of Oman, and its current destination is the port of Khor Fakkan.
However, a senior official at the Ministry of Maritime Transport, on condition of anonymity, said late Thursday that the ship was sailing towards its original destination in Jeddah.
Real-time tracking of maritime traffic in the strait has certainly been affected by widespread jamming, as well as spoofing of transponder data.
Meanwhile, the Shipping Ministry said in an update that the Gilbertar-flagged bulk carrier Frosso K, carrying 55,000 metric tons of sulfur, transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and is bound for Paradip port in India. The Frosso K was on a priority list of 15 vessels identified by the Fertilizer Administration for evacuation from the Persian Gulf.
The Desh Garima crude oil tanker, which transited the Strait of Hormuz on April 18, arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday.
On the same day, two ships flying the Indian flag, the Sanmar Herald and the Jag Arnav, were fired upon by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, so the two ships turned back.
The Shipping Ministry update stated that there are 518 Indian seafarers on board Indian-flagged ships in the Arabian Gulf region (340 in the western Strait of Hormuz and 178 in the Gulf of Oman).
(With inputs from Zia ul Haq in Delhi)
