A merchant ship changed course to help rescue 14 Indian sailors after their vessel was disabled and left adrift off the coast of Oman, as reported by the U.S. Navy and Indian officials. The rescue operation inv...
A merchant ship changed course to help rescue 14 Indian sailors after their vessel was disabled and left adrift off the coast of Oman, as reported by the U.S. Navy and Indian officials.
The rescue operation involved the Indian-flagged dhow Virat 1, which encountered engine trouble while in the Northern Arabian Sea. The Indian Embassy in Oman stated that the crew had to evacuate the ship and move to a liferaft as Omani authorities organized a search and rescue mission with the help of nearby ships.
The U.S. Navy received a distress signal from the stranded sailors around 2 a.m. EST on June 14. A U.S. Navy P-8 maritime patrol aircraft was the first to reach the area and dropped a search-and-rescue kit that included a life raft, which the crew managed to board successfully.
The UAE-based cargo ship MV Jabal Ali 9 later arrived at the scene and rescued 11 mariners from the liferaft.
Three more crew members were saved by an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Due to rough sea conditions, the liferaft carrying these three mariners overturned before the helicopter crew could retrieve them.
“The three mariners were taken to M/V Jabal Ali 9, where they were found to be in good health and spirits,” the Navy stated.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy also responded to the distress call.
Initially, the Indian Embassy in Oman reported that 11 out of 14 crew members had been rescued and that efforts were still underway to find the remaining mariners. A later update confirmed that all 14 sailors were safely recovered.
“All 14 crew members have been rescued and are currently onboard Jabal Ali 9 heading to Mumbai. They are safe and in good health,” stated the embassy.
This rescue happens amidst rising tensions between Washington and New Delhi following the deaths of three Indian sailors on the tanker Settebello during a U.S. enforcement operation in the Gulf of Oman last week.
India has officially lodged a protest regarding the incident, with External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar informing U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified.”
Washington has stood by its operations, stating that commercial vessels must follow instructions from U.S. forces that are enforcing sanctions and restrictions on Iranian oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
These incidents have put Indian mariners in the spotlight and raised serious concerns about the safety of civilian crews operating in the area.