Drone Strike Hits Oil Tanker Off Sharjah: All 22 Indian Crew Members Safe

All 22 Indian seafarers aboard the Panama-flagged crude oil tanker MT Gem No. 2 have been confirmed safe following a targeted drone attack at the Sharjah anchorage off the United Arab Emirates on Friday, October 9. Providing critical reassurance to families and the maritime sector, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal took to social media platform X on Saturday to confirm the crew's well-being. Sonowal stated that maritime authorities are monitoring the situation in real time while maintaining active coordination with the vessel's technical management company to ensure the ongoing security, welfare, and operational support of the Indian sailors on board.

Rising Gulf Waterway Risks and India's Maritime Defense Push

The drone strike comes amid a sharp spike in hostile actions targeting commercial merchant shipping across vital global sea lanes, most notably in the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea corridors. Addressing the evolving geopolitical hazard, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal highlighted that India has taken concrete multilateral steps to protect international waters through the establishment of the "Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers." The specialized international coalition is designed to bring major maritime stakeholders, flag states, and crew-supplying nations onto a unified diplomatic platform to deter maritime threats, safeguard mercantile transit, and bolster seafarer protections through coordinated international protocols.

India-Liberia Maritime Alliance at UNGA Demands End to Ship Strikes

The initiative was formally inaugurated on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, where 25 maritime nations gathered for its foundational convention. The session was jointly co-chaired by India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Liberia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sara Beysolow Nyanti. In a joint declaration, India and Liberia strongly denounced continuous strikes against civilian commercial tonnage in the Gulf and Black Sea sectors, categorizing the disruption of trade and threats to merchant crew lives as wholly unacceptable. Emphasizing India's global footprint as one of the world's primary providers of qualified commercial seafaring personnel, Jaishankar demanded an immediate cessation of unprovoked assaults on commercial shipping lanes.