India is monitoring three separate attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf region after officials said all 35 Indian seafarers aboard the ships were reported safe. The incidents, spread across October 29 and 30, involved a crude carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, a tanker in the same waterway and a Marshall Islands-flagged LNG carrier in the Persian Gulf.

Three vessels, three separate incidents

The first reported case involved MT ARZANAH, a Liberia-flagged very large crude carrier targeted in the Strait of Hormuz on October 29. Two Indian nationals were on board, and the government said both were safe.

On October 30, MT LOUISE 1, a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker, was targeted in a separate incident in the Strait of Hormuz. Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said all 27 Indian seafarers on the vessel, along with the rest of the crew, were safe and no injuries were reported.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, known as UKMTO, said a tanker had been attacked about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman. It said the fire had been extinguished, the crew was safe and no environmental impact had been reported.

Reuters, citing three maritime security sources, identified that tanker as MT LOUISE 1 and reported that two limpet mines had been attached to its hull by a small boat. Reuters said the reported explosions caused an engine-room fire and temporarily disabled the vessel. The available reports did not establish who was responsible.

What is known about the third vessel

A third incident involved M/T AL MAYEDA, a Marshall Islands-flagged LNG carrier that was targeted in a projectile attack in the Persian Gulf on October 30. The vessel had a 25-member crew, including six Indian seafarers, and Sonowal said all six Indians and the entire crew were safe.

The government said it was monitoring the incidents and coordinating with the relevant ship-management companies to safeguard Indian crew members. That matters because Indian nationals were aboard all three vessels, and the Strait of Hormuz is a critical route for oil and gas shipments.

The picture remains incomplete in at least one key respect: the reports do not specify the exact position or time of the attack on M/T AL MAYEDA, and they do not identify who carried it out. For MT LOUISE 1, too, responsibility has not been established in the available reporting.

What ties the three incidents together is not a confirmed perpetrator, but the risk to merchant shipping and the repeated need to account for the crew. Across the ships named so far, the central verified fact is that the Indian seafarers aboard them were reported safe.