India sailors caught in US-Iran crossfire

New Delhi: Indian civilian sailors unwittingly seem to be getting caught in the hostilities between Western powers and Iran on the high seas. As many as 24 Indian civilian sailors are on an Iranian oil tanker that was reportedly seized recently by the (British) Royal Navy off Gibraltar. Also, 18 other Indian civilian sailors have been detained after they were on board a UK-flagged vessel on waters off the Iranian coast.

Sources said that Indians are a large workforce on civilian vessels on the high seas.

Meanwhile, New Delhi said on Thursday that it had been granted consular access to 24 Indians on board the Iranian vessel seized by UK authorities.

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday said, “It’s a 24-member Indian crew arrested by UK authorities. We had sought consular access. It was granted yesterday. A three-member team (of Indian diplomats) visited and met all the 24 crew-members. What we saw was that the crew members were very calm and very composed. We assured them that the government will take steps to ensure their early release.”