Govt working day and night for seafarers’ safety: Sonowal
Days after two commercial vessels carrying a total of 22 Indian nationals were hijacked by armed pirates off Yemen and Somalia, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday said that all concerned agencies are working day and night, and they are committed to the safety, security, and welfare of Indian seafarers wherever they are working.
Sonowal said the Government has asked the Directorate General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) to set up a dashboard for providing real-time information about Indian seafarers on each vessel operating in the region, irrespective of the ship’s flag.
“In this sector, as you know, all concerned agencies are working day and night and particularly we are committed to the safety, security, and welfare of our seafarers wherever they are working,” he said.
Sonowal was asked how the Government is dealing with the security threat faced by Indian seafarers operating in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and wider Indian Ocean region, where vessels have to contend with attacks linked to geopolitical tensions in the region.
The minister said he has categorically directed that every Indian seafarer in the affected region must be individually accounted for, irrespective of the vessel’s flag.
The Indian crew members aboard both hijacked vessels are safe, according to the latest information available, a senior shipping ministry official said on August 21.
The Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker MT Sibu 1, carrying 20 crew members, including 16 Indians, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on August 20, about 30 nautical miles off the Yemeni coast. The crew also includes one Syrian, one Sudanese and one Iraqi national, while the nationality of another seafarer is yet to be confirmed.
A second vessel, the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF, was hijacked on August 17 off Somalia’s Puntland coast. The vessel has 10 crew members, including six Indians.
The shipping ministry official quoted above had said, “As reported by Recruitment and Placement Service Licence (RPSL) agency - SKS Krishi Marine Services (Opc) Private Limited, six armed pirates are presently onboard the vessel (MT Sibhu-1) and have taken control of the vessel.”
The RPSL agency has been advised to submit an incident report and subsequent periodic updates through the e-Navik online marine casualty reporting system, the official said.
Maritime tracking information indicates the tanker was approached by an unauthorised vessel before the control of the ship was lost. The incident occurred as piracy activity off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden has increased this year.
The hijacking of two ships came at a time when Indian seafarers face heightened security concerns elsewhere in the region, including the Strait of Hormuz, where tensions involving Iran, Israel and the United States have disrupted one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.
The developments are particularly significant for India, which has become the world’s second-largest supplier of seafarers after the Philippines.
The 2026 BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report estimates that India supplies 311,936 seafarers, underscoring the country’s large exposure to risks affecting merchant crews worldwide.
