GEM No.2 tanker hit by drone at Sharjah anchorage as two more ships are struck near Hormuz
All 22 Indian crew of the Panama-flagged tanker are safe; UKMTO reports a tanker and a containership hit north of Musandam on 13 October
A drone struck the Panama-flagged crude oil tanker GEM No.2 at the Sharjah anchorage in the UAE on 9 October, India's shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. All 22 seafarers on board are Indian nationals, and all are safe. Some accounts place the ship off Ras Al Khaimah rather than at Sharjah.
The strike started a fire, which the crew put out. The UAE National Guard's Coast Guard Division began a rescue operation on 10 October after the crew reported the fire; its teams located the tanker and took all crew members off, and they were given first aid and handed to the authorities in stable condition. The Indian consulate in Dubai said "all seafarers were safe". The 2017-built tanker is managed by Fleet Management Limited, with which the Indian government said it was in contact.
What has India done since?
India and Liberia co-chaired the first meeting of a new Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers in New York, attended by 25 countries. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the aim was to bring countries onto one platform to find practical answers to attacks on ships, so that trade is not disrupted and seafarers' lives are protected. India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Liberia's Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti condemned the attacks in the Middle East and the Black Sea.
How many ships have been hit this week?
On Tuesday 13 October UKMTO reported two more attacks north of the Musandam Peninsula, one on a tanker and one on a containership, each by an "unknown projectile". Six attacks were reported on Sunday 11 October, the heaviest single day of damage since the conflict began, and none on Monday. Some of the ships hit have suffered serious fires or been disabled.
Iranian officials have said the method and pace of the attacks have changed and that the aim is to impede US-sponsored oil exports through the strait. The Institute for the Study of War has suggested Iran may be fielding an anti-ship variant of the Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile.
The IMO counts 15 Iranian attacks in October so far and 106 incidents since the conflict began. Iran's representative to the IMO has meanwhile filed a complaint that US forces use VHF Channel 16 to threaten Iranian crews, which Tehran says breaches SOLAS.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 15 October 2026.
