India’s Directorate-General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) issued an order on Wednesday prohibiting ship owners and companies from using Indian nationals as crew for voyages through the Strait of Hormuz until further notice.
The order came after word that a second Indian crew member was killed by Iranian terrorist attacks in the Strait of Hormuz over the past three days.
The first confirmed death was an Indian working aboard the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Mombasa B when it was struck by Iranian missiles on Tuesday.
The Mombasa B and another supertanker called Al Bayah were both operated by ADNOC, the United Arab Emirates’ state energy company, and were passing through the territorial waters of Oman when Iran attacked them. Both ships suffered significant damage from the missile strikes. Six other Indian nationals working aboard the two ships were injured, in addition to the man who died.
The second fatality was Heramb Karmarkar, 30, a marine engineer aboard the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy. Like the two ADNOC oil tankers, the Galaxy was sailing through Omani waters when it was hit by an “unidentified projectile” on Sunday.
The Galaxy had a 24-man crew, 11 of whom were Indian nationals. Karmarkar was originally listed as missing, but on Wednesday his father-in-law Vivek Tandon said he was informed by the company that operates the container ship that Karmarkar had been killed.
“He was a 30-year-old young man, not an elderly person. Our only request to the Government of India is that his body be handed over to us intact and brought home,” Tandon told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).
Tandon said Karmarkar was a graduate of the City of Glasgow College in the United Kingdom, and had been working aboard the Galaxy for five months with the end of his contract coming up soon. He is survived by his wife, mother, and younger sister.
Other family members told IANS that Karmarkar sent them a message shortly before the ship was attacked, indicating his ship had “safely crossed the Gulf.”
The Indian consulate in Dubai said on Thursday that the coast guard of Oman recovered Karmarkar’s body about 60 hours after he was reported missing.
“The Consulate is in touch with the bereaved family and is closely coordinating with the relevant UAE authorities and the shipping company to provide all possible support and assistance to the family,” the consulate said.
Tandon said Karmarkar’s “mortal remains” are still in the care of the Oman Navy.
“Herambh had been on the vessel for the last five months and was due to sign off soon,” he said.
DGMA said on Thursday that “in view of the heightened security situation in the Persian Gulf region,” it was “necessary to adopt enhanced precautionary measures to safeguard the interests of Indian seafarers serving on board ships operating in the region.”
Majoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India, said the order did not go far enough to protect Indian seafarers, because many of them remain trapped in regional waters that lie within range of Iran’s weapons.
“We can stop the new sets of crews from joining in those areas. But what about those thousands of seafarers who are still trapped in those deadly seas and under the threat to their lives? What is the government doing to take them out?” he said.
India lodged diplomatic protests with Iran on Tuesday over the attacks on ships with Indian crew members. India also announced it has assigned the Information Fusion Center — Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), a maritime security center operated by the Indian Navy, to assist with rescue operations. New Delhi has not, as of yet, committed to using military force to protect its citizens against Iranian terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters.
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