An Indian cargo vessel carrying 14 crew members has come under an aerial attack off the coast of Oman, leaving one sailor dead.
India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, confirmed the incident.
“On November 2, the Indian-flagged vessel MSV AL JUSUFI, carrying 14 Indian sailors on board, was struck by an unidentified aerial object off the coast of Oman,” Sonowal wrote on social media platform X.
He said that 13 crew members had been safely evacuated and rescued by the Omani Coast Guard.
“However, it is with profound sorrow that I inform you that one of our sailors, Gandhar Nahim Ajic, from the state of Gujarat, succumbed to his injuries,” the minister added.
Sonowal said India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Indian Embassy in Oman were coordinating with local authorities to provide emergency assistance to the 13 survivors, arrange their earliest possible return to India, and repatriate the body of the deceased crew member.