24 Indian sailors rescued from ship hit by U.S. missile

24 Indian sailors rescued from tanker MarivexA ship approved by the United States due to its Iranian connections off the southeastern coast of Oman on Monday, June 8, 2026, following a U.S. missile attack.

The sailors sent distress messages to the Forward Sailors’ Union of India (FSUI) officer that the US Navy was attacking the ship’s engine room. Voice messages allegedly sent from sailors to FSUI general secretary Manoj Yadav, received at 14:00 IST, say: “This is the Motor Tanker Marivex. There is a fire on the ship. The ship is sinking. The US Navy attacked our engine room with a missile. There is a hole in the bottom.”

US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement: “On June 8, in the Gulf of Oman, the ship disabled (attacked) an empty oil tanker trying to go to the Iranian port, violating the ongoing blockade against Iran.” An F/A-18 Super Hornet (CVN 72) belonging to the USS Abraham Lincoln fired precision munitions into the engineering and steering sections of the ship after the crew did not comply with the instructions of the US forces. Marivex sailed to Iran for longer “We will open it.”

Marivex The crew’s distress message said there was a US warship nearby that did not assist, and there was no immediate response from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC). In video clips sent to Mr. Yadav, a sailor on the ship is seen pointing at a nearby warship.

SOS!: SOS call as oil tanker with 24 Indian sailors on fire catches fire off Oman after being hit by US missile

In the voice messages, it was stated that the lifeboats on one side of the ship were also hit in the attack, and the lifeboats on the other side could not be reached due to the fire.

According to the Indian Coast Guard, MRCC Mumbai received information about the missile attack on the Palau flagged tanker MT Marivex, anchored off Masirah, Oman, at around 14.20 hours on Monday, June 8, 2026. The alert was conveyed to MRCC Mumbai by a relative of one of the sailors on board.

Following information of distress, MRCC Mumbai immediately contacted the Oman Maritime Search and Rescue Center (OMSC) and requested it to assume the role of Search Mission Coordinator while providing immediate assistance to the affected vessel and its crew.

Eventually, a rescue operation evacuated by helicopter 24 Indian sailors who had been moved to the forward part of the ship as the ship’s stern was on fire. Mr Yadav said the sailors were currently safe on Masirah Island in Oman. “They are all in shock and most of them have lost their mobile phones. They are expected to reach India within two days,” he said.

‘The tanker was empty’

In the statement previously made by the Center, it was stated that “A fire incident was reported on the MT MARIVEX ship today around 13.30 off the coast of Oman.”

Opesh Kumar Sharma, director of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, refused to comment on the cause of the fire at a press conference. “There are 24 Indian sailors on board and all of them are declared safe,” he said. He added that the tanker was empty and located far from the Strait of Hormuz.

Marivex It is a ship approved by the US government last December, according to the Equasis maritime database.

Marivex It was one of the few ships that left the Strait of Hormuz on April 9, when the ceasefire was declared. He then transported the oil from Bandar Abbas in Iran to Mangalore. At that time, there was an influx of Iranian-related ships from the Persian Gulf.

Since then, Marivex Mr Yadav said he was operating in a “conflict zone”. According to tracking website marinetraffic.com, the ship’s last port of call was Karwar in Karnataka and it was heading to Duqm in Oman.

The UK Merchant Marine Operations Center flagged the attack as “suspicious activity”.

(Contributed by Sarabh Trivedi)