Indian crew safe as Houthi drone strikes commercial oil tanker MV Sai Baba in Red Sea

PTI

New Delhi, December 24

A Gabon-flagged commercial crude oil tanker with 25 Indian crew members reportedly came under a drone attack in the Southern Red Sea but no one was injured, Indian officials and the US military said on Sunday.

The US Central Command said the vessel, MV Sai Baba, was targeted by a drone launched by Houthi militants in the Southern Red Sea on Saturday.

The US military’s statement on the attack came a day after merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto, with around 20 Indian crew members, was hit by a suspected drone about 217 nautical miles off the Porbandar coast in the Arabian sea.

“All 25 crew members of MV Sai Baba are learnt to be Indians,” said an Indian military official. There were no reports of any casualties.

The official said MV Sai Baba is a Gabon-flagged vessel and it had received a certification from the Indian register of shipping.

The US Central Command described the vessel as an Indian-flagged tanker. The vessel was reportedly on its way to India.

The officials said the Indian Navy is closely monitoring the situation.

In a post on ‘X’, the US Central Command mentioned the attack on MV Sai Baba along with a similar strike targeting another vessel on Saturday.

“The M/V BLAAMANEN, a Norwegian-flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil tanker, reported a near miss of a Houthi one-way attack drone with no injuries or damage reported,” it said.

“A second vessel, the M/V SAIBABA, a Gabon-owned, Indian-flagged crude oil tanker, reported that it was hit by a one-way attack drone with no injuries reported,” it added.

The fresh attack came against the backdrop of Iran-backed Houthi rebels stepping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The US Central Command is one of key unified combatant commands of the US.