Two Indian seafarers are missing after an oil tanker carrying 11 Indian crew members was struck by a drone while at anchor off Sohar in Oman on Sunday, October 11. The other nine have been rescued and are safe, Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, as India condemned what it called recurring attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz region.
Search under way off Sohar
In a post on X, Sonowal said the tanker MT Petro Dolphin was hit at Sohar Anchorage, where ships wait off the Omani port. He said Oman’s Coast Guard was carrying out search-and-rescue operations and that the government was coordinating with all the authorities involved to help find the missing men.
We are continuously coordinating with all relevant authorities to fully support the ongoing rescue efforts and ensure every possible action is taken to safely locate our missing personnel.
Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
The Embassy of India in Muscat said the vessel is a Nicaragua-flagged tanker and that it was in close and continuous contact with the authorities. No one has said who launched the drone.
A second tanker with Indian crew hit
In a statement later on Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs said a second vessel with Indian crew had also been attacked the same day. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker MT Valthera was struck by an unknown projectile that set off a fire on board, but all 11 Indian seafarers on it were reported safe. The ministry said the embassy was working with Omani officials and the ships’ management companies to find the missing men and help the crews.
The ministry said the safety of Indian seafarers was a priority for the government, and that the repeated attacks on commercial shipping were deeply concerning and risked making an already volatile situation worse. It called for immediate de-escalation and for the conflict to be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, adding that attacks on commercial vessels, seafarers and civilian infrastructure must stop and that freedom of navigation must be upheld under international law.
Why it matters
The Strait of Hormuz is the only sea route in and out of the Gulf, and before the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28 it carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. With the US enforcing a naval blockade of Iran and Tehran insisting that ships use only routes it approves, attacks on merchant vessels in and around the waterway have been rising. On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said an oil supertanker had exploded and caught fire after hitting a mine south of the strait, and claimed that three tankers had struck mines on an unauthorised route since Saturday.
Indian crews have been caught up repeatedly. All 22 Indian sailors on the tanker GEM No. 2 were rescued off the UAE on Saturday, a day after a drone hit their tanker and a fire broke out on board, and an Indian man died after being injured in Saturday’s missile attack on Riyadh airport, in which 11 Indians were hurt.
What happens next
The search for the two missing sailors from the Petro Dolphin is continuing. The government says it is tracking both crews through the embassy in Muscat and the shipping companies concerned.
