India on Wednesday condemned an attack earlier in the day on a commercial vessel off the coast of Oman which had 24 Indian crew onboard. In a big development, New Delhi has issued a demarche to the United States’ top diplomat in Delhi after the attack.
“We condemn the attack on the commercial vessel Settebello off the coast of Oman, earlier today. Of the 24 Indian crew onboard, 21 Indians have been rescued thus far and 03 Indians are reportedly missing”, the foreign ministry said in the statement.
Nagaraj Naidu, the additional secretary in the Foreign Ministry, summoned Jason Meeks, the charge d’affaires of the United States, to protest the attack on the ship.
While 21 Indians have been rescued, three are still missing, the Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed. In a statement, the ministry said that the Indian Embassy in Oman is closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with the authorities there in the ongoing search and rescue operation.
A missile tore through the engine room of the oil tanker Settebello near the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a fire onboard.
The Palau-flagged vessel had 28 crew aboard, 24 of them Indian nationals, when it sent out a distress call reporting the strike while sailing roughly 20 nautical miles northeast of the Omani port of Sohar.
In a post on X, the US Central Command confirmed that the US forces disabled an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel violated the naval blockade.
https://t.co/YgShlznGPQ
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 10, 2026
“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) disabled Palau-flagged M/T Settebello as it transited the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. aircraft fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces,” the post stated.
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