New Delhi (TIP): A Panama-flagged container ship that was fired upon by Iranian boats amid an escalation of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz had 21 Indian crew members, who are unharmed and safe, India’s shipping ministry said on Thursday, April 23, even as another container vessel headed to India after transiting the waterway.
The Euphoria is one of three ships that were attacked by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday as Tehran pushed back against a US blockade of its shipping, seeking to reassert its control of the strait that is normally the route for a fifth of global oil supplies. The other ships attacked were the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberian-registered Epaminondas — which was headed to the Mundra port in India.
“A vessel, Euphoria, was having 21 Indian seafarers on board, and all of them are safe,” said additional secretary in the shipping ministry, Mukesh Mangal, at an inter-ministerial press conference on Thursday. The Euphoria also has a Burmese crew member.
The Epaminondas had one Indian crew member, who is also safe, Mangal said. “None of the Indian seafarers has been injured in the firing on the foreign-flagged vessels,” he added, according to a report by the news agency ANI.
The Francesca, which Iranian media said has been detained along with the Epaminondas at Bandar Abbas port, did not have any Indian crew.
Iranian media had reported the Euphoria was stranded on the Iranian coast after the attack. Ship tracking websites show the ship is near the Oman coast, and give its current destination as Khor Fakkan port.
However, a top shipping ministry official, on condition of anonymity said late on Thursday that the vessel is sailing towards its original destination of Jeddah.
To be sure, real-time tracking of maritime traffic in the strait , has been affected by widespread jamming as well as spoofing of transponder data.
Meanwhile, the Gilbraltar-flagged bulk carrier Frosso K, carrying 55,000 metric tonnes of sulphur, transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and is bound for Paradip port in India, the shipping ministry said in an update. The Frosso K was on a priority list of 15 vessels identified by the department of fertilizers for evacuation from the Persian Gulf.
The Desh Garima, a crude oil tanker that transited the Hormuz on April 18, reached Mumbai on Wednesday.
The same day, two Indian-flagged vessels, the Sanmar Herald and the Jag Arnav, were fired at by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats while transiting through the Strait of Hormuz and the vessels have turned back.
The shipping ministry’s update said that there are 518 Indian seafarers onboard Indian-flagged vessels in the Persian Gulf region (340 in West of Strait of Hormuz and 178 in Gulf of Oman).
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