Live updates: Claims of progress in Iran talks, US munitions stockpile ‘dangerously low,’ sources say
An Indian-flagged vessel has been struck and sunk by a projectile off the coast of Yemen, Indian authorities said Tuesday, in the latest incident to underscore the ongoing risk to shipping in the region.
The MSV Faize Noore Oliya was “hit by a projectile near Yemeni waters,” Sarbananda Sonowal, India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said in a post on X. He did not say who was responsible for the attack.
“India strongly condemns this unprovoked attack on the defenseless mechanised sailing vessel,” he wrote. “The safety of our people is our supreme priority & I am relieved to inform that ALL 14 seafarers (including 13 Indians) have been safely rescued by the Yemeni Coast Guard and brought to the Port of Mokha.”
India’s foreign ministry called “the continuing incidents of attacks” on vessels in a region “deeply worrisome,” in a post on X. It also called for an end to the targeting of commercial shipping in the region.
Yemen’s transportation ministry accused Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis of carrying out the attack by using an explosive-laden boat, according to Reuters. There was no comment from the group, the news agency added. The Houthis last month threatened to disrupt shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint at the southern end of the Red Sea, expanding a conflict that has already blocked oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz.
Major seafaring nation: India is one of the largest suppliers of merchant marine labor, with more than 300,000 seafarers globally. Many of them work on vessels operating in the volatile region, leaving them particularly exposed when tensions escalate, and there have been multiple fatalities of Indian seafarers.
