New Delhi/Gopalgang: An Indian crew member was killed, and eight others were wounded when two Emirati oil tankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence confirmed the incident on Tuesday, in the latest escalation in the strategic waterway. According to a report by Dainik Jagran correspondent, the deceased man was identified as Sonu Kumar Gupta, a resident of Bihar's Gopalganj. However, any official confirmation from the Indian officials is yet to come.
According to the ministry, national tankers (Mombasa) and (Bahia) were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles in the southern passage of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani territorial waters. The dead crew member was aboard the Mombasa, it said.
4 Indians killed so far in Hormuz region
Of the eight wounded, four were seriously injured. Six of the wounded were Indian nationals, and two were Ukrainian nationals, the ministry said. With this, the total number of Indians killed in the Hormuz region has reached four on Tuesday. Earlier in March, three Indian sailors were killed in an attack. One of them was from Bihar's Bhagalpur. Devanandan Prasad Singh, a marine engineer from Rani Bamiyan village, was killed on March 11 when the US-flagged cargo ship he was working on came under Iranian attack near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran claims vessels had ignored warnings
While responding to the latest attacks on commerical vessels, Tehran claimed the vessels had ignored repeated warnings, switched off their navigation systems, and attempted to sail through what it described as a "mined route" despite clear instructions from its forces.
India demands an end to shipping strikes
Earlier on Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs said one Indian national was missing after an attack on the commercial vessel GFS Galaxy off the coast of Oman. "Of the 11 Indian nationals on board, 10 have been rescued so far, while one Indian National is reportedly missing," the ministry said, while condemning the attack.
It said the continuing incidents of attacks on commercial shipping in the region are "deeply worrisome". "We reiterate our call for immediate de-escalation of tensions, and the conclusion of ongoing negotiations for a diplomatic solution so that peace and stability can return to the region," the MEA said.
US pounds fresh attacks on Iran
The latest incidents in the waterway come after weeks of heightened tensions since the war broke out on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. On Monday, President Donald Trump said the US was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would ensure the Strait of Hormuz stays open for a fee while warning that US forces would hit Iran again "very hard" in the coming hours after the two sides exchanged missile and drone attacks.
US Central Command announced on social media that the US military had begun another round of strikes against Iran. "These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," the US military said.
Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it "another major attack". "We're hitting them very hard. And it'll continue, and we'll see what happens," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "We're knocking out all of their offensive capability and we're controlling the straits. We're putting the blockade back."
(With inputs from agency and Dainik Jagran correspondent Pradeep Kumar Srivastava)
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