A distress call pleading for urgent assistance captures the panic on board an unladen oil tanker seconds after it was hit by a US missile – the first of three attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Oman this week.
“This is tanker Marivex. We have fire on board, we have fire on board and vessel is sinking,” began the plea from the MT Marivex.
“US Navy attacked a missile on our engine room. We have a hole at the bottom. We have fire on board. please help … please help. All crew Indian. 24 crew. Please help quickly. Please, we need immediate help,” continued the message to an Indian seafarers' group after the Palau-flagged tanker was hit by a US missile on June 8.
The missile strike on Monday afternoon and was followed by US strikes on two further tankers. One of them killed three Indian sailors. The US Central Command said the tankers were violating its blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil.
India has condemned the attack, urged de-escalation and called for an end to attacks on commercial shipping.
When the missile hit on Monday, the sailors on MT Marivex desperately reached out to the seafarers' group in India asking for numbers they could call for assistance. They sent the location of the ship so they could be tracked.
All 24 Indian sailors aboard MT Marivex were later rescued by the Omani navy. A small harness was dropped on to the ship from a helicopter. Each sailor, carrying a small backpack, was winched to safety.
Abhijeet Sangle, working president of the All India Seafarers and General Workers Union, said the sailors were terrified when they called for help.
“We have emergency lines that sailors call and in that tanker Marivex, there was a lot of panic. They said there was a missile attack and the engine room was hit,” Mr Sangle told The National.
“They sent their location and asked for help. It takes some time for us to inform all authorities and then get back to the crew. The most important thing is to ask them to stay calm, not to jump from the vessel and that they would be rescued.”
Two stories
Mr Sangle said the crew told him they had informed the US Navy they needed time to repair the engine before the ship was hit by a missile.
“The distress call came in to us at 2pm on June 8, the crew of Marivex was very frightened. They said there was an attack on the ship, it was an emergency and they needed assistance. We sent them Oman emergency numbers and of the Indian embassy in Muscat,” he said.
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A helicopter arrives to rescue crew onboard the MT Marivex after it was hit by US missiles off Oman. All photos: All India Seafarers and General Workers Union -
Smoke billows from the tanker, which the US has accused of breaching its blockade of Iranian ports -
An Indian sailor is lifted to safety after the attack -
All 24 crew members on the unladen tanker were rescued by Oman's navy -
India has condemned the attack and called for de-escalation -
Seafarers called shipping groups for help after the US missile struck the vessel -
Omani personnel carry out the rescue operation -
All 24 seafarers were taken to safety, after the missile attack off Oman -
Three Indian crew were killed when a Palau-flagged oil tanker called the MT Settebello was hit by a US missile -
The Omani navy rescued a crew of 21 Indians, two Pakistanis, one Russian and one Ukrainian after the Settebello strike -
The damaged engine room of the Palau-flagged tanker
“The crew said there was a problem with the ship’s engine and repair work was on. The ship had put down anchor and was repairing this. They got a message from the US Navy saying they should remove the vessel. They asked for some time. But before the time was up, there was a missile attack on the ship. Fortunately all 24 Indian seafarers were rescued and are safe.”
The Indian sailors reached home on Wednesday.
US Central Command confirmed it “disabled” the unladen oil tanker, saying an F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln fired at the ship’s “engineering and steering spaces”. It said the crew had “failed to comply with directions from US forces”.
Deaths of sailors
The attacks this week are the latest in a series of missile and drone strikes on commercial vessels in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz under blockade by the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the US Navy.
On Wednesday, three Indian sailors were confirmed dead after MT Settebello, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, was hit by a US missile. Twenty-one Indian sailors, two Pakistani, one Russian and one Ukrainian sailor were evacuated by the Oman Navy from MT Settebello, according to Mukesh Mangal, additional secretary Indian Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
Expressing condolences to the bereaved families, he said the welfare fund would pay one million Indian rupees ($10,400) to each family. India's Ministry of External Affairs condemned the attack and said the “continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region are deeply worrisome.”
On Thursday, a Guinea- Bissau-flagged bitumen tanker MT Jalveer was hit by a missile off the coast of Oman. All 20 Indian crew were evacuated to safety to Oman's Shinas port and there were no injuries on board.
The US Central Command said its forces had disabled nine non-compliant vessels, redirected 135 ships and allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass since April 13. US forces fired precision munitions into the engine room of MT Settebello on June 9 and fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of MT Jalveer when the crew “failed to comply with directions from US forces”.
Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary general of the International Maritime Organisation, criticised the attack on MT Settebello.
“I strongly condemn any act from any party that endangers the lives of seafarers and the safety of international shipping. This is simply unacceptable. My thoughts are with the families of the three seafarers who lost their lives and with all those awaiting news of the crew members,” he said.
India is among the world’s top three suppliers of seafarers with a sailing workforce of more than 300,000. More than 3,500 Indian sailors have been repatriated from the Gulf amid the Iran war.
