Two Indian seafarers are missing after a drone struck the commercial tanker MT Petro Dolphin in the Strait of Hormuz area on Sunday, India's foreign ministry said, in one of two attacks on tankers that day that India condemned on Monday. The tanker had 11 Indian sailors on board when it was hit, the ministry said, according to the Associated Press. A second vessel, the Marshall Islands-flagged MT Valthera, was struck by an unknown projectile and caught fire, but all 11 Indian sailors aboard were reported safe.
What happened to MT Petro Dolphin?
India's shipping minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said the Nicaragua-flagged tanker was attacked at Sohar Anchorage off Oman, that nine of its Indian crew had been rescued and were safe, and that the local coast guard was searching for the two missing seafarers, according to ANI reporting aggregated by The Daily Rostrum. India's embassy in Muscat said it was in continuous contact with the authorities and the ship's managers.
One detail is disputed. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said a tanker struck by a drone near the Sohar anchorage had been damaged but that all crew were safe, according to Reuters reporting cited by The Daily Rostrum; that account did not name the vessel and differs from the Indian government's statement that two crew members are missing. Both accounts are reported here as published; the discrepancy had not been resolved at publication time. No source opened for this article identified who launched the drone.
What happened to MT Valthera, and what did India say?
The Marshall Islands-flagged MT Valthera was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, sparking a fire on board, India's foreign ministry said; all 11 Indian seafarers aboard were reported safe, AP reported. In its statement, the ministry condemned the attacks on both vessels, called the recurring strikes on commercial shipping deeply concerning, and urged an immediate de-escalation, a resolution through dialogue and diplomacy, and respect for freedom of navigation under international law.
How do Sunday's attacks fit the recent pattern?
Sunday's two incidents are the latest in a run of strikes on commercial shipping around Hormuz this month. On October 9, the Panama-flagged MT Gem No. 2 was hit near Sharjah Anchorage — an incident this site covered at the time — and Sonowal said all 22 Indian crew aboard that vessel were safe, according to The Daily Rostrum's timeline of the October attacks. The Petro Dolphin case is the first in this sequence in which a government has reported crew members missing.
Why does it matter?
The Strait of Hormuz is the main export route for Gulf oil and gas, and attacks that leave seafarers missing raise the stakes beyond vessel damage: they test whether shipping keeps transiting, and they draw in governments, like India's, whose nationals crew much of the region's merchant fleet. With no claimant and no identified attacker for either Sunday strike, attribution — and any response — remained open at publication time.
The missing-seafarers figure is the Indian government's account, reported by AP and by Indian outlets carrying the foreign ministry and shipping minister statements; the UKMTO account reported by Reuters differed on crew safety and is stated alongside it. No attacker has been identified in any source opened for this article. This is not financial advice.
