At the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called for an end to attacks on ships and seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz and announced a joint India-Liberia initiative to safeguard seafarers. All 29 Indian crew on two recently attacked tankers are safe.
BIMCO’s Tanker Safety Network has warned that known machinery defects, weak maintenance and postponed repairs can lead to serious engine-room fires. Reviewing three real incidents, members said spare-part shortages, short repair windows and schedule pressure often push engineers to delay fixing problems they have already found.
Three people, including an Indian national, are now confirmed dead and two remain missing after the Prospector 5 jack-up rig sank off Mayumba, Gabon, in the Gulf of Guinea. Gabon has ordered a technical investigation into the rig’s stability during preload operations.
The Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet has sunk about 21 nautical miles southeast of Shabla, near Cape Kaliakra in Bulgaria’s Black Sea waters, after three sea drones struck it on 28 October. All 18 crew, 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, had already been rescued and taken to Varna.
Iran’s IRGC Navy says three oil tankers hit naval mines on a southern route through the Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman’s Musandam Peninsula. UKMTO separately reported a tanker struck by an unknown projectile off Oman on 29 October. None of the ships has been named or verified.
A Bahamas Maritime Authority investigation has found that an ordinary seaman died after falling through a gap between open hatch covers into a cargo hold on a Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier in the Caribbean Sea. He had left the protected catwalk, and fall protection was available but not used.
A tanker was reported burning and mostly submerged nine miles north of Khasab, on Oman’s Musandam Peninsula in the Strait of Hormuz, after an apparent attack on 28 October. The same day, US naval forces advised ships to avoid unnecessary transits and to expect questioning and boarding checks.
The Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Sigma Pearl ran aground near Antarvedi, off Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, after losing propulsion as Cyclone Arnab struck India’s east coast on 28 October. The crew are reported safe, and the Indian Coast Guard has sent a helicopter and an offshore patrol vessel.
This week’s maritime roundup tracks escalating attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, confirmation that 24 Indian seafarers are safe, DGMA’s Sarawak deployment ban, India’s One Nation One Port reforms, record inland waterway cargo, dramatic rescues at sea, and new training and retrofit tools shaping seafarer safety.
Piracy has fallen worldwide, but attacks off Somalia are rising and turning deadly. A piracy survival guide for seafarers: precautions before you sail, what to do if attacked, hostage dos and don’ts, and your rights while held.
Increased attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea have put seafarers at growing risk. This guide explains your rights when sailing into war zones, including refusal options, extra pay, and protections under Indian law, IBF agreements, and the Maritime Labour Convention. Know your rights before you sail.
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