New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday dismissed reports that a merchant vessel with Indian crew had been attacked near Oman, saying the information was incorrect and that the ship’s personnel were safe.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters that officials had directly contacted the master of the Liaki Freedom to confirm the situation. “We have spoken with the Master of the vessel Liaki Freedom, who has confirmed that all crew members are safe and that the reported information is false,” Jaiswal said.
Earlier reports had claimed that the Liaki Freedom — reported to have Indian sailors aboard — was struck by the US forces off Omani waters. The Forward Seamen’s Union of India had said it could not establish radio contact with the ship because its Very High Frequency (VHF) set was not responding, though the union said it was able to locate the vessel and provided coordinates at Latitude 24°43.85N and Longitude 56°37.52E.
The MEA clarification comes amid a string of recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, where several Indian-crewed tankers have been targeted this month, as reported by News 18.
On June 10 the tanker MT Settebello was reportedly hit when US missiles struck its engine compartment, an attack that left three Indian sailors dead and saw 21 crew rescued. A day later, the MT Jalveer was said to have been attacked after a US jet fired two missiles into its engine room; all 20 crew aboard that vessel were reported safe. On June 8, the tanker Marivex was struck by a US fighter jet, which sparked a fire and led to the evacuation of its crew.
The US Central Command has said those vessels were violating a blockade of Iranian ports and had failed to follow instructions. In April, separate incidents saw two Indian crude oil tankers fired upon by the Iranian navy north of Oman; those strikes caused no casualties but did shatter a cabin window on one vessel and forced both ships to turn back from the Strait of Hormuz. One of the April vessels, the Sanmar Herald, is an Indian-flagged VLCC super-tanker carrying about two million barrels of Iraqi crude.
India lodged a formal protest with Washington and issued a warning to Iran over attacks on vessels linked to India. On Saturday, the MEA sought to calm concerns by reporting that the master of the Liaki Freedom had directly confirmed the crew were safe and that claims of a new attack were incorrect.
