Three Ships With Indian Crews Struck in Two Days Near the Strait of Hormuz

Three foreign-flagged ships carrying Indian crew were struck on 8 and 9 September, a two-day sequence that has pushed India's maritime administration to identify a further ten vessels for evacuation. Everyone on board the three ships survived.

The Zimbabwe-flagged crude oil tanker Riesco was reportedly hit by United States naval forces in the Gulf of Oman late on 8 September. All 21 Indian crew had already left the tanker because of the security situation and had moved to a shelter at an Iranian port before the strike.

Half an hour later the Palau-flagged LPG carrier Horizon 1 was hit at Khor Fakkan OPL with 16 people on board, 14 Indians and two Georgian nationals. KBT Ship Management, the ship's owner and technical manager, said all 16 were picked up by a vessel nearby and are safe. On 9 September the Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker Mersin Prosperity was hit by a projectile near Fujairah with seven Indian crew aboard, all of them accounted for.

Six Indian-flagged vessels and eight foreign-flagged ships of Indian interest are currently in the Persian Gulf, west of the Strait of Hormuz, carrying 173 Indian seafarers between them. A further ten ships of Indian interest, both Indian-flagged vessels and foreign-flagged ships bound for India, have been identified for evacuation.

The cumulative toll is now substantial. Since the conflict began, four incidents involving Indian-flagged vessels and 50 involving foreign-flagged ships with Indian crew have been recorded, leaving nine seafarers dead, twelve injured and one presumed dead. The safety of Indian seafarers and freedom of navigation through the strait were raised when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New Delhi; Pezeshkian arrived in India on 11 September for the eighteenth BRICS summit.

Manila is pressing the same case from the other direction. On 10 September the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers called on shipowners to strengthen protection for Filipino crew on ships transiting high-risk and warlike areas, after the 31 August projectile attack on the crude oil tanker Sidr that killed two Filipino seafarers. Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac said owners must respect the internationally recognised right to refuse to sail through unsafe areas, and should keep crew out of vulnerable spaces, engine rooms in particular, while a vessel is in a high-risk zone. "More than anything, it is the increased safety measures. We need to further tighten safety measures on board as the ship intends to traverse a high-risk area," he said. The 14 surviving Filipino crew of the Sidr have been repatriated with assistance from the authorities of the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 15 September 2026.