Oil tanker with 15 Indian crew members hit off Oman coast amid Middle East tensions

A US sanctioned oil tanker, which was Palau-flagged, was hit on Sunday while it was off the Oman’s Musandam peninsula and led to four people getting injured, Oman’s maritime security centre said but refrained to provide specific details of what actually hit the vessel. The 20-person crew of Skylight tanker was evacuated after the attack which had 15 Indian and five Iranian citizens, the country’s maritime security centre informed in a post on X. The incident occurred 5 nautical miles north of Musandam’s Khasab Port, on the strategic Strait of ‌Hormuz. The Oman News Agency, in the X post quoted maritime security and said, “The Maritime Security Center has announced that the oil tanker SKYLIGHT, flagged to the Republic of Palau, was subjected to an attack approximately five nautical miles north of the port of Khasab in the Musandam Governorate.” > The Maritime Security Center has announced that the oil tanker SKYLIGHT, flagged to the Republic of #Palau, was subjected to an attack approximately five nautical miles north of the port of Khasab in the Musandam Governorate. The entire crew of twenty individuals—comprising…— Oman News Agency (@ONA_eng) March 1, 2026 The Maritime Security Center has announced that the oil tanker SKYLIGHT, flagged to the Republic of #Palau, was subjected to an attack approximately five nautical miles north of the port of Khasab in the Musandam Governorate. The entire crew of twenty individuals—comprising… The post further added, “The entire crew of twenty individuals—comprising fifteen Indian nationals and five Iranian nationals—has been safely evacuated. Preliminary reports indicate that four crew members sustained injuries of varying degrees and have been transported to receive requisite medical care.” The attack on the vessel follows drone strikes at other places in the Gulf nation, including attack on commercial port of Duqm on the Arabian Sea. It is the first time that an oil tanker has been attacked in or near Oman following a barrage of retaliatory strikes launched by Tehran after the US and Israel jointly led strikes in the Islamic nation and plunged the region into a new war.