Following recent attacks on vessels carrying Indian crew members in the Gulf, another report has surfaced stating that the ship Liaki Freedom, also with an Indian crew aboard, came under attack off the coast of Oman on Saturday morning.
The reports came in after the vessel, reportedly, stopped responding.
The Minister of External Affairs dismissed the reports as "false" and "baseless". MEA said that they have spoken to the master of the vessel and all the crew members are safe.
"Fake News Alert! Please stay alert against such false and baseless claims and posts on social media," MEA said.
As per the Forward Seamen's Union of India, they could not contact the ship as its Very High Frequency (VFH) radio was not responding. However, with the coordinates, they were able to track the vessel off the Oman coast.
Initial unverified reports claimed that four seafarers had died aboard the tanker MT Liaki Freedom operating in the Strait of Hormuz area.
This follows recent attacks on three Indian-crewed vessels in the Gulf amid the ongoing conflict. In one incident, three Indian crew members were killed during a US strike on the Palau-flagged tanker MT Settebello off the coast of Oman. The vessel was carrying 24 Indian crew members; while 21 sailors were successfully rescued, officials have confirmed that the three missing crew members are dead.
The US Central Command confirmed that these attacks were carried out by American naval forces, while President Donald Trump blamed Iran for the attacks.
Following the incident, India lodged a strong protest to Washington and summoned the US chargé d'affaires in New Delhi. MEA said it has conveyed its deep concern about the matter.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday said he had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and conveyed India’s strong protest over US naval attacks in the Gulf that killed three Indian seafarers.
