11 hours ago
1
Twenty-four Indian seafarers were rescued from tanker Marivex, a vessel sanctioned by the U.S. for Iran links, disconnected the south-eastern seashore of Oman connected Monday (June 8, 2026), aft a U.S. rocket strike.
The sailors sent distress messages to a Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) office-bearer that the U.S. Navy had attacked the ship’s motor room. Audio messages purported to beryllium from the seafarers to Manoj Yadav, wide caput of FSUI, received astatine 2 p.m. (India time) say: “This is Motor Tanker Marivex. Fire connected board. Vessel is sinking. U.S. Navy attacked with rocket our motor room. We person a spread astatine the bottom.”
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said successful a connection that “U.S. forces disabled (attacked) an unladen lipid tanker successful the Gulf of Oman, June 8, aft the vas violated the ongoing blockade against Iran by attempting to sail to an Iranian port. An F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) fired a precision munition into the ship’s engineering and steering spaces aft the unit failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces. Marivex is nary longer sailing to Iran.”
The Marivex crew’s distress connection says that determination was a U.S. warship adjacent that was not helping, neither was determination an contiguous effect from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre. Video clips sent to Mr. Yadav amusement a seafarer from the vessel pointing to a warship nearby.
SOS!: Indian lipid tanker, with 24 Indian sailors, issues SOS telephone after tanker caught occurrence disconnected the Oman coast
SOS!: Indian lipid tanker, with 24 Indian sailors, issues SOS telephone after tanker caught occurrence disconnected the Oman coast | Video Credit: The Hindu
The audio messages accidental that the lifeboats connected 1 broadside of the vessel were besides deed successful the onslaught and the different broadside lifeboats were not accessible owed to a occurrence that had breached out.
Eventually, a rescue cognition evacuated the 24 Indian seafarers, who had moved to the front-end of the vessel since the back-end of the vas was connected fire, done helicopter. The seafarers are present connected the Masirah Island successful Oman, and safe, said Mr. Yadav. “All of them are successful a authorities of daze and astir of them person mislaid their mobile phones. They are expected to scope India successful 2 days,” helium said.
‘Tanker was empty’
A connection from the Centre said a “fire incidental was reported contiguous aboard the vas MT MARIVEX astatine astir 13:30 hours disconnected the seashore of Oman.”
At a quality briefing, Opesh Kumar Sharma, manager astatine the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, declined to remark connected the origin of the fire. “The vas has 24 Indian seafarers connected board, each of whom are reported to beryllium safe,” helium said. He added the tanker was bare and located distant from the Strait of Hormuz.
Marivex is simply a vessel sanctioned by the U.S. authorities past December, arsenic per shipping database Equasis.
Marivex was 1 of the fewer ships that exited the Strait of Hormuz connected April 9 conscionable erstwhile the ceasefire was declared. It had past carried lipid from Bandar Abbas successful Iran to Mangalore. At that time, determination was a unreserved of Iran-linked ships exiting the Persian Gulf.
Since then, Marivex has been operating successful the “conflict zone”, said Mr. Yadav. Its past larboard of telephone was Karwar successful Karnataka and the vas was bound for Duqm, Oman, arsenic per tracker website marinetraffic.com.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center has flagged the onslaught arsenic a “suspicious activity”.
