The panic was audible in the sailor’s SOS message shortly after a US missile hit a tanker off the coast of Oman. “We have fire on board. We have fire on board and vessel is sinking,” began the frantic call of the sailor on board the Marivex. “Please help. Please help. We have fire on board … All crew Indian, 24 crew. All crew Indian. Please help quickly. Please, we need immediate help.”
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The message to Indian authorities was released by an Indian seafarer’s union earlier this month, as the US military targeted commercial shipping vessels in the Gulf of Oman while enforcing a US naval blockade. The Marivex crew were lucky. All 24 sailors were saved by the Omani navy on June 8. But a day later, the US military killed three Indian sailors on board the Settebello in the Gulf of Oman in the third such attack in a week, forcing India’s foreign ministry to lodge a “strong protest” with the US. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement on the Settebello attack was brisk and arrived with aerial video of the tanker disappearing in black smoke as powerful munitions hit the vessel. “U.S. forces disabled an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman for the second consecutive day after another vessel violated the ongoing blockade by attempting to transport oil from Iran,” said the statement. “A U.S. aircraft fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces.” As families grieved and Indian media provided wall-to-wall coverage of the latest tragedy on the high seas, the top US diplomat spoke to his Indian counterpart in New Delhi. But the phone call only increased the outrage. During his conversation with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “underscored that violations of the U.S. blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated”, noted the State Department readout. “US offers no regret over Indians killed in strike,” read news headlines as opposition politicians asked why the US military could not use non-lethal means to halt non-compliant commercial vessels. “How can a 'friend' and strategic partner be so insensitive?” asked Shashi Tharoor, a Congress Party MP and former UN under-secretary-general.
