India Monitors Six Ships And 166 Seafarers Near Hormuz After Crew Death
India is monitoring six Indian-flagged vessels and the safety of 166 Indian seafarers operating in the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz, as attacks on merchant shipping continue across two separate conflict zones. A foreign ministry spokesperson said six Indian vessels were currently west of the Strait of Hormuz, in the Persian Gulf, with 125 Indian seafarers aboard, and that a further 41 Indian seafarers were working on foreign-flagged vessels in the same area. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is coordinating with relevant authorities to track the vessels and safeguard crew welfare.
The disclosure came alongside an acknowledgement that India has limited visibility of its nationals serving in the Black Sea, where commercial vessels have come under repeated attack in recent weeks. The spokesperson said India has the world's second-largest seafaring community, with large numbers serving on both Indian and foreign-flagged tonnage, but that an exact figure for those currently sailing in and around the Black Sea was not available. That gap reflects a structural difficulty for every major crew-supplying nation: national authorities generally know who is on their own flag, and very little about the rest.
On Monday the ministry summoned Ukraine's ambassador in New Delhi over an attack on the commercial vessel Omorfi that resulted in the death of an Indian seafarer. It was an unusually direct diplomatic step, and it followed an earlier incident in which the merchant vessel Ragnar, carrying four Indian nationals, was struck at the port of Odesa. Two of those crew members were reported safe at the time, with information on the remaining two still awaited.
India used the briefing to restate a position it has held consistently since attacks on merchant ships began multiplying. Commercial shipping, seafarers, civilians and civilian infrastructure should not be targeted under any circumstances, the spokesperson said, adding that this had been articulated clearly to partners and to others. The formulation is deliberately even-handed, applying the same standard to every party in every theatre rather than singling out one belligerent.
For crewing managers the practical consequence is a widening set of routes where recruitment has become harder and war-risk compensation has become a negotiating point rather than a formality. Vessels transiting the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Black Sea now all carry premiums, and in several trades crews have the contractual right to refuse passage. Owners are increasingly finding that the binding constraint on a voyage is not insurance cost or bunker price but whether a full complement will sail.
