21 Indian Settebello Survivors of Deadly US Navy Attack Return Home
12:34 16.06.2026 (Updated: 13:17 16.06.2026)
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Deadly US Navy attacks on Indian-crewed vessels have sparked outrage in India. The US has yet to apologise, with New Delhi calling the incidents "avoidable". PM Modi and President Trump are likely to meet at the G7 Summit in France on Wednesday.
Twenty-one seafarers from MT Settebello, a Palau-flagged tanker which came under a deadly attack from US Navy last week, have departed from Muscat to India, the Indian Embassy in Oman said on Tuesday morning.
Three Indian seafarers - Patnala Suresh (Chief Engineer), Aditya Sharma (Deck Cadet) and Shivanand Chaurashiya (Fitter) lost their lives in the US Navy attack, which took place when the vessel was around 30 nautical miles off the coast of Sohar, Oman.
In total, three Indian-crewed vessels, Marivax, Settebello and Jalveer, came under US Navy attacks for trying to violate the US Navy blockade last week, leading to death of three Indian sailors.
Nishanth Uirthanathan (Second Officer), another Indian seafarer aboard MT Celestial, also died after repeated distress calls from the ship's Master to US Navy on VHF 16 went unanswered, according to ship records reported exclusively by Sputnik India over the weekend. The first SOS was issued on 8 June, but the vessel did not lift anchor for the nearby port of Duqm until 11 June. At approximately 6 p.m. local time that day, Uirthanathan passed away, according to the Master's Declaration. His body was allowed to disembark at Duqm on the evening of 14 June.
India has strongly condemned the US Navy attacks, lodging official protests with US Chargé d’Affaires (CdA) Jason Meeks by summoning him to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) headquarters in Delhi on two occasions last week.
In a telephone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said such "lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified".
However, the US doubled down on its stance, with Rubio telling Jaishankar that all commercial vessels must "immediately comply" with orders from US forces and the "violations of US blockade" would not be tolerated, according to the State Department readout of the call.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced a "deal" with Iran and said that he had authortised the "immediate removal" of the naval blockade from the Strait of Hormuz. Later, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Evian, Trump added that the Strait would be fully reopened after Friday, when US and Iranian representatives would convene in Geneva for the signing of the US-Iran MoU.
Three Indian seafarers - Patnala Suresh (Chief Engineer), Aditya Sharma (Deck Cadet) and Shivanand Chaurashiya (Fitter) lost their lives in the US Navy attack, which took place when the vessel was around 30 nautical miles off the coast of Sohar, Oman.
In total, three Indian-crewed vessels, Marivax, Settebello and Jalveer, came under US Navy attacks for trying to violate the US Navy blockade last week, leading to death of three Indian sailors.
Nishanth Uirthanathan (Second Officer), another Indian seafarer aboard MT Celestial, also died after repeated distress calls from the ship's Master to US Navy on VHF 16 went unanswered, according to ship records reported exclusively by Sputnik India over the weekend. The first SOS was issued on 8 June, but the vessel did not lift anchor for the nearby port of Duqm until 11 June. At approximately 6 p.m. local time that day, Uirthanathan passed away, according to the Master's Declaration. His body was allowed to disembark at Duqm on the evening of 14 June.
India has strongly condemned the US Navy attacks, lodging official protests with US Chargé d’Affaires (CdA) Jason Meeks by summoning him to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) headquarters in Delhi on two occasions last week.
In a telephone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said such "lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified".
However, the US doubled down on its stance, with Rubio telling Jaishankar that all commercial vessels must "immediately comply" with orders from US forces and the "violations of US blockade" would not be tolerated, according to the State Department readout of the call.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced a "deal" with Iran and said that he had authortised the "immediate removal" of the naval blockade from the Strait of Hormuz. Later, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Evian, Trump added that the Strait would be fully reopened after Friday, when US and Iranian representatives would convene in Geneva for the signing of the US-Iran MoU.
