NEW DELHI: Even as the government on Thursday said 16 seafarers have been killed in attacks — 11 in the Persian Gulf and five in the Black Sea over the course of almost eight months- a senior Saudi official at Sagarmanthan Dialogue stressed that anyone trying to take control of an international waterway or sealane is a “criminal act”, which must be stopped.Responding to queries on the safety of Indian seafarers, shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal said India has successfully brought back 4,292 Indian seafarers and now only 139 remain in the conflict-hit region. He added that govt has set up an online framework to track every Indian sailor deployed in any vessel.In response to the casualties in the Persian Gulf since war broke out on Feb 28, shipping secretary Vijay Kumar said, “There have been four attacks on Indian flagged vessels and 74 incidents involving foreign-flagged vessels, where Indian crew were on board. Unfortunately, there have been 11 confirmed casualties.”Officials added that so far 74 vessels of Indian interest, including 25 India-flagged, have transited the Strait of Hormuz. At present, there are eight ships of India’s interest in the Persian Gulf and six of them are trading in that region. “India has always called for freedom of navigation for the good of all nations,” said an official.
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Earlier in the day, president and CEO of the Saudi Ports Authority, Suliman bin Khalid Almazroua, said that there is a need to have more corridors, more connectivity, and countries should work together. “But that, in a way, should not make us forget one thing: international water should not be controlled…These are international waterways, and anyone who tries to control them should be stopped. This is a criminal act that needs to be stopped... we should not allow someone to stop us from connecting to each other.Cochin Shipyard gets order to build 40 ships from US, Germany, Norway, and other nationsState-owned Cochin Shipyard has received orders to build over 40 ships from the US, Germany, Norway and other countries, the shipping minister said on Thursday. A senior ministry official also said that some Russian entities have also shown interest in building ships in India, in collaboration with Indian shipyards, including Cochin Shipyard.
