13 Indians Among 16 Crew Members Missing After Oil Tanker Sinks Off Oman Coast

New Delhi: Sixteen crew members, including 13 Indians, have gone missing after an oil tanker carrying them capsized off the coast of Oman, the country’s Maritime Security Centre informed.

The oil tanker was heading to Yemen’s Aden Port and efforts were on to find the crew members.

The crew of ‘Prestige Falcon’, a Comoros-flagged oil tanker, had 13 Indians and 3 Sri Lankans onboard, the Maritime Security Centre tweeted. The vessel capsized 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah near the Omani port of Duqm on Monday.

The vessel was headed for the Yemeni port city of Aden, according to the vessel tracking website – www.vesselfinder.com. The tanker departed from the Al Hamriya port, in Dubai on July 9 and was expected to arrive at Aden on July 18.

Oman’s Maritime Security Centre told news agency Reuters that the oil tanker remained “submerged and inverted”. It, however, did not confirm whether the vessel had stabilised or whether oil or oil products were leaking into the sea.

The 117-metre-long oil products tanker was built in 2007, and was sailing at around 8.3 knots, Vessel Finder data showed.