Three Indian nationals were killed in Iranian attacks on two merchant vessels in the waters off the coast of Oman on Monday. One of the Indian nationals has reportedly been identified as 25-year-old Dixit Solanki, a resident of Mumbai.
Solanki was aboard the MKD VYOM vessel that was hit by a projectile. The Indian embassy in Oman confirmed the ‘tragic demise of an Indian national' in a social media post.
The Indian national was on the vessel with 25 other crew members, and the vessel was heading to Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat, the Indian Express reported.
As per the report, Solanki was the youngest son of Amritlal Solanki, who runs a fishing business, while Dixit's sister lives in Dubai. He has moved to Mumbai from the Bhavsarvada area in Diu and was living in the Kandivali area. About a month ago, Dixit came to Mumbai to attend the final rites of his mother.
MKD Vyom was flying the flag of the Marshall Islands and was attacked by a drone boat about 52 nautical miles off the coast of the Muscat governorate, HT reported earlier.
The attack resulted in a fire and an explosion in the main engine room.
{{/usCountry}}The attack resulted in a fire and an explosion in the main engine room.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian embassy in Oman in an X post on March 2 said that it is with close coordination with the local authorities in Oman “to facilitate the safe and early repatriation of our nationals on board the vessel.”
This incident was the first time that targets were hit near Oman after a wave of retaliatory strikes by Iran after US and Israel launched a joint attack on it.
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Two other Indian nationals were also killed this week, who were part of another tanker, Skylight, which was Palau-flagged. The vessel was targeted by Iranian forces in waters near Oman's Musandam peninsula over the weekend.