As many as 24 Indian sailors were rescued by the navy, after a tanker caught fire off the coast of Oman on Monday.
According to officials, the sailors were airlifted using Indian navy helicopters, off the Palau-flagged tanker ‘MT Marivex’. They did not specify what caused the blaze.
India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said the fire was reported at around 1:30 pm (0800 GMT).
“There has been a fire reported on a vessel, MT Marivex, on which there were 24 Indian seafarers… all Indian seafarers are safe,” ministry director Opesh Kumar Sharma told reporters.
Images posted on social media by the Forward Seamen’s Union of India showed crew members being winched from the vessel by helicopter as thick black smoke billowed from its bridge and accommodation cabins.
The tanker’s position was shown by ship-tracking service MarineTraffic as being off the coast of Oman, south of the capital Muscat.
Indian authorities did not provide details about the extent of the damage to the vessel and did not indicate what may have sparked the fire.
Iran has largely blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel on February 28. The vital waterway normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG shipments in peacetime.
New Delhi’s foreign ministry condemned recent violence in a statement earlier on Monday.
“This conflict has now lasted over 100 days and has already caused immense human suffering,” it said.
“It has also had a debilitating impact on the global economy and energy supplies.”
(With inputs from AFP)
