India Sounds Alarm Over Threat to Commercial Shipping At UN After 3 Crew Members Go Missing

India expressed concern and flagged the threat to commercial vessels in the Middle East region, following an attack on a vessel off the Oman coast that left three Indian crew members missing.Addressing the UN Security Council, New Delhi warned against targeting merchant vessels and stressed the need to ensure free and unimpeded navigation amid escalating regional tensions.Speaking at the United Nations, P. Harish, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said that several Indian nationals have lost their lives in these attacks, while some remain missing."Many Indian nationals have lost their lives or are missing as a result of attacks against countries of the region and against merchant vessels and sea lanes of communication. In this background,

India strongly reiterated its call for dialogue and diplomacy, avoiding impeding freedom of navigation and commerce, avoiding military targeting of commercial shipping, avoiding targeting of civilian population and infrastructure, and seeking an early end to the conflict. India expressed its support to all efforts aimed at peaceful resolution of issues," Harish said, according to a statement.

"India is also firmly opposed to attacks on merchant shipping as many of our nationals are prominent in its global workforce," he added. The Permanent Representative flagged that there are "almost ten million Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region." "Their safety and well-being are of utmost priority to us. Our trade and energy supply chains are dependent on stability in the region and any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy," he said.Read More - India Summons Top US Diplomat Over Attack On Ship Carrying Indians Off Oman CoastIndia had on Wednesday summoned the US charge d'affaires to strongly protest a US military attack on a commercial vessel off the Oman coast that left three of the 24 Indian crew members missing.According to a PTI report, Charge d'Affaires Jason Meeks was handed a demarche or diplomatic note of protests over the incident.The attack on the commercial vessel 'Settebello' came two days after a Palao-flagged vessel with 24 Indians came under attack of the US Navy.