LPG Tanker With 28 Indian Crew Attacked in Iranian Waters, All Confirmed Safe

Tanker Hit, Crew Alive, Attacker Unnamed

The LPG tanker DISHA, flagged to Mozambique with IMO number 8818219, was attacked in Iranian territorial waters on Friday, July 24. All 28 crew members on board are Indian nationals. All 28 are alive.

The Embassy of India in Tehran confirmed the attack in a post on X, saying it "has been in close contact with the relevant authorities and has confirmed that all Indian crew members are safe." The embassy said it's monitoring the situation and staying in touch with Iranian officials, according to both NDTV and the Indian Express.

No government or armed group has claimed responsibility for who attacked the ship, what weapon was used, or how much damage the DISHA took. NDTV, the Indian Express, and Times of Oman all report the same gap. The embassy statement is silent on cause, culprit, and condition of the vessel. The Indian government has simply not released those details so far.

A Pattern, Not an Isolated Incident

This is the third attack in roughly a week to put Indian sailors in the middle of someone else's war.

On July 18, the commercial vessel MV OMORFI was attacked in what the Ministry of External Affairs described as Russian territorial waters while the ship was transiting the Black Sea. One Indian national was killed. The MEA said 10 crew members were aboard total, including three Indians, and the other two Indian nationals survived.

Before that, the cargo ship MV Golden Leo was attacked shortly after leaving Ukraine's Odesa port on a Sunday evening in July. Of 17 crew members aboard, five were Indian nationals. Four of them died. A fifth remains in critical condition, according to the Indian Express, citing the Ministry of External Affairs.

Three ships. Three war zones: the Gulf, the Black Sea, waters near Odesa. Five Indian sailors dead in under two weeks, before Friday's attack on the DISHA, which so far has produced no reported casualties.

Jaishankar's Warning, Issued a Day Before

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressed the pattern directly on Thursday, a day before the DISHA was hit, speaking at the 21st East Asia Summit in the Philippines. "Under no circumstances can attacks on seafarers, civilian shipping or infrastructure be countenanced," he said, according to both NDTV and Times of Oman.

Jaishankar added that "international waterways must remain safe and unimpeded, fully in consonance with international law." He didn't single out Iran, Russia, or any other party by name in the remarks reported by these outlets. India is condemning the attacks on principle without publicly assigning blame to a specific government, at least not yet.

India Already Told Its Sailors to Avoid the Strait of Hormuz

This wasn't a surprise to India's maritime regulators. The Directorate General of Maritime Administration issued a circular on July 17, a week before the DISHA attack, advising ship owners, managers, and recruitment agencies to avoid sending Indian seafarers through the Strait of Hormuz "until further orders," according to Times of Oman.

The DGMA circular cited a string of prior attacks on merchant vessels, naming the Mombasa B, Al Bahyah, GFS Galaxy, MT WEDYAN, and AL REKAYYAT. The directorate said those incidents had "increased the risks faced by seafarers and commercial ships operating in the conflict-affected area."

So the warning existed. The DISHA got hit anyway, in Iranian waters rather than the Strait itself, showing the danger zone is broader than the specific chokepoint India flagged.

What's Still Unknown

No government or armed group has claimed responsibility for the DISHA attack as of Friday's reporting. The embassy statement doesn't say whether this was a missile strike, drone attack, or something else. It doesn't say whether the tanker can still sail under its own power or needs to be towed.

Given the escalating US-Iran tensions referenced by NDTV as the backdrop for the attack, and the fact this happened inside Iranian territorial waters, the obvious open question is whether Iran itself, a proxy force, or a third party was responsible. None of the three sources answer that. The Indian government's next statement, and whether it names a responsible party, will signal where India is headed.