Relatives of crewmen lost at sea are demanding to know why the civilian vessel was struck
Relatives of the deceased Indian sailors killed in a US missile strike on a merchant ship off the coast of Oman on Wednesday are demanding to know why the civilian vessel was targeted.
The Palau-flagged MT Settebello had a crew of 28: 24 Indians, two Pakistanis, one Russian, and one Ukrainian. The US military fired at it with a precision munition for allegedly trying to run the blockade of Iran.
On Thursday, New Delhi confirmed that three sailors had lost their lives, the others were rescued.
Rajesh Sharma, the father of Aditya Sharma, a deck cadet on the Settebello, was inconsolable when he spoke to RT India.
“It was a commercial ship and it was a cargo carrier or oil tanker and there was no dangerous or hazardous material in it so that it could be used to help Iran,” he argued. “But they hit it with a missile, and that was not a way to control the cargo ship. You can send your navy person [nel] to the ship. You can arrest the crew members. There are a lot of ways, but hitting a cargo ship with a missile is foolishness and madness.”
Sharma told RT that he had spoken with his son after hearing about the strike on another vessel, the MT Marivex, on Monday, and that the family was worried for Aditya’s safety. “In my family it was me, my wife, and my only son… our only son who has left us now,” his father said.
Sharma urged the government to direct all shipping companies “to not move [ships] toward the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf.”
RT India also spoke to Panna Lal Chaurasia, a relative of another deceased sailor. Speaking from Deoria in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, he said that his brother-in-law, Shivanand Chaurasia, who was killed in the strike, had two young children. Chaurasia added that the family is demanding that the authorities hand over his mortal remains “at the earliest.”
India’s shipping minister has promised to ensure the swift repatriation of the rescued crew and the return of the remains of the dead.
The Settebello was the second commercial vessel to be struck by US forces near the Strait of Hormuz in less than three days. Earlier, on Monday, US forces hit the MT Marivex, which had an all-Indian crew. All of the sailors were rescued following the attack.
A petrochemical tanker reported a fire off the coast of Oman on Thursday after US forces struck it, marking the third such incident this week.
