SHARJAH — The Panama-flagged crude oil tanker MT GEM NO. 2 was targeted in a drone attack at Sharjah Anchorage on Friday, October 9, and all 22 crew members — all Indian nationals — are safe, India’s ports minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, according to TBS News and The Hindu BusinessLine.
Sonowal said India is closely monitoring the situation and is in contact with the ship’s management company. The confirmation of the crew’s safety brings relief after a tense 48 hours in which the vessel’s fate was unclear.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations had reported a projectile striking a vessel in UAE waters on Friday, and sources told Reuters the vessel was the supertanker GEM NO. 2. Separately, the UAE National Guard said on Saturday that its Coast Guard had rescued 22 crew members from a burning tanker in Gulf waters, according to the Emirates News Agency — the rescue operation first reported by Zark News yesterday. Taken together, the accounts describe a vessel hit by an apparent drone strike that caught fire, with its full crew pulled to safety by Emirati responders.
What happened
This story is a new development on the rescue operation covered earlier: the drone-attack cause, the vessel’s identity and the all-Indian crew roster are the new confirmed facts. The attack comes amid heightened tensions in Gulf shipping lanes, where commercial vessels have faced repeated targeting. No group has claimed responsibility for the strike, and authorities have not yet said who they believe was behind it. India said its crisis-response machinery remains on standby as the vessel’s condition is assessed, and New Delhi is expected to press for answers on how a civilian tanker came under attack in one of the world’s busiest energy corridors.
