NEW DELHI: India summoned a senior US diplomat on Friday for a second time in two days, after American strikes on three largely Indian-crewed merchant vessels off Oman killed three Indians.
The foreign ministry said it had summoned US Deputy Chief of Mission Jason Meeks to lodge “a strong protest … regarding the continuing attacks by US naval forces on commercial vessels carrying Indian mariners.”
The attacks “have already resulted in the tragic and avoidable loss of three Indian lives,” the ministry said.
Meeks was first summoned to the foreign ministry on Wednesday, after a US strike on the Palau-flagged MT Settebello off the coast of Oman, which killed three Indian sailors.
That followed a June 8 strike on the MT Marivex, another Palau-flagged tanker. Omani authorities airlifted 24 Indian sailors off the stricken vessel.
