A missile strike on the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy off Oman’s Musandam Peninsula on Sunday forced the crew to abandon the vessel, leaving one Indian seafarer missing.
The vessel was transiting southbound along Oman’s coastal shipping route when the attack struck its aft section, igniting a fire in the engine room. The blaze disabled the ship and forced all 23 crewmembers to evacuate into lifeboats. The Royal Navy of Oman later rescued the survivors, while search teams continued looking for one missing Indian crewmember.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said 11 Indian nationals were serving on board. The Indian Embassy in Muscat is coordinating with Omani authorities on the ongoing search-and-rescue operation.
The strike came just hours after high-level talks in Muscat failed to ease tensions over freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Washington had pressed Tehran to restore unrestricted commercial traffic and recognize the IMO-backed temporary transit arrangement, which allows merchant ships to use either the established northern passage or Oman’s coastal route. Instead, the violence escalated.
Iran later said it had fired a warning shot at a vessel travelling on what it described as an “unapproved route,” but did not explicitly identify MV GFS Galaxy. Within hours of the incident, U.S. Central Command launched another round of strikes against Iranian military sites.
