At least one Indian sailor killed in attack in the Strait of Ormuz

“ Um total of 27 crew members were removed and received the necessary medical care after the ship was attacked at approximately 2.5 nautical miles from Musandam province. The incident caused a fire in the engine room and the death of a crew member,” said Oman's Maritime Safety Center.

According to this maritime authority, a ship of the Royal Navy of Oman, in cooperation and coordination with the competent authorities, carried out a crew withdrawal operation of the merchant ship “Cape Dao”, with the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

The Indian embassy in Muscat, capital of Oman, confirmed that the dead sailor is native to India.

“ We are closely monitoring the attack on the ‘MV Cape Dao’ that took place today while sailing towards India and we maintain close coordination with Oman’s authorities regarding the safety of the entire crew on board, including 19 Indian citizens. We deeply regret the loss of an Indian citizen in this attack”, reads in an embassy statement.

According to the British maritime monitoring body, UKMTO, the ship was hit by “an unknown projectile”, in an attack that caused “two victims”, without specifying further details.

UKMTO added that “the ship is on fire and adrift”, but noted that no environmental impacts have been reported for the time being.

So far, no group has claimed the authorship of this attack in the maritime strait, bordering Oman and Iran.

Two days ago, at least two crew members were injured lightly in an attack on an oil tanker while it was passing through the Ormuz Strait, according to UKMTO.

Last week, between 16 and 18 September, there were at least three more attacks on tankers transiting through the Strait of Ormuz in just 48 hours.

This new attack comes at a time of special geopolitical tension in the Middle East region, on the one hand with the war between the United States and Iran at a standstill and traffic in the Strait of Ormuz still restricted and, on the other hand, with the war escalating in the Red Sea between the Huthis rebels of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.