All 24 Indian seafarers aboard two tankers involved in separate incidents near the Strait of Hormuz and Romania were reported safe by Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. A subsequent update from India’s embassy in Bucharest said YARA J, the vessel involved in the Romanian incident, had reached the Port of Constanța.
The two updates cover different stages of the response. Sonowal’s October 16 statement addressed the safety of Indian crew members on both vessels. The embassy’s October 17 announcement provided a more recent location and welfare update for the nine Indians aboard YARA J, following discussions with Romanian authorities and the company.
Two vessels, two separate incidents
According to the minister’s statement reported by ANI in The Tribune, the crude-oil tanker MT ST 3 was struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on October 16. There were 15 Indian seafarers aboard. The chemical tanker YARA J, carrying nine Indian seafarers, was involved in a separate incident at Sulina Anchorage in Romania on October 14.
Sonowal described the YARA J incident as a drone strike and said there were no casualties or injuries among the 24 Indian nationals across the two vessels. He also said the government was monitoring the situations and remained in contact with the ship-management companies over the crews’ safety and welfare.
The combined figure is therefore a count of Indian seafarers across two ships, not the total complement of one vessel. The incidents occurred on different dates and in different maritime regions. There is no basis in the safety statement alone to treat them as a single coordinated operation.
Embassy confirms YARA J’s arrival
The October 17 embassy update, reported by Yes Punjab, said Ambassador Manoj Mohapatra had spoken with Romanian authorities, including search-and-rescue officials and the maritime coordination centre in Constanța, as well as the tanker’s Company Security Officer. Those contacts confirmed that all nine Indian crew members were safe and that the vessel had arrived in port.
The ambassador offered the Indian government’s support and assistance. Arrival at port provides a more specific update than the earlier accounts of the tanker moving towards Constanța, but it does not itself establish a repair schedule, the extent of damage or arrangements for the crew’s onward travel.
The embassy also referred to separate assistance given to three Indians rescued from MV Royad Mammadov earlier in October. Their case is distinct from YARA J and MT ST 3. Their return to India should not be read as confirmation that the crews involved in the latest incidents have also been repatriated.
Reports on the Romanian incident require attribution
Interfax-Ukraine’s October 15 account, citing Romanian public broadcasting and maritime reporting, described a fire aboard YARA J near Sulina. It said the crew brought the fire under control and that a Romanian rescue vessel was dispatched. The report placed the incident in the Black Sea and described a multinational crew.
Other early maritime reporting noted uncertainty over whether a drone had hit the vessel. ShipFinder cited Romanian Defence Minister Radu Miruță as saying the cause had not been clear at that stage. That earlier uncertainty should be distinguished from Sonowal’s later description, while the technical investigation remains relevant to establishing exactly what happened.
Neither the crew-safety update nor the embassy’s arrival confirmation identifies who was responsible. This report does not assign responsibility for either incident or infer a link between them. The safety of people, the condition of a ship and attribution of an attack are separate questions requiring their own evidence.
A wider concern for merchant crews
The International Maritime Organization has repeatedly called for attacks on merchant vessels and seafarers to stop. In a September 16 statement, Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez urged member states to act to protect civilian shipping. That statement supplies the wider context for concern about crews working through conflict-affected waters; it is not an investigation of these two incidents.
For families following the latest reports, the most concrete information is the official confirmation that the Indian crews were safe, along with YARA J’s arrival at Constanța. Further updates from the ministry, embassies and ship managers will be needed on the vessels’ condition and any crew-support or travel arrangements. The October 17 embassy statement is the latest verified YARA J update reviewed for this article.
