A Saudi Arabia-flagged oil tanker carrying three Indian seafarers was involved in a possible attack while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, November 11, India's Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, said. All three Indian nationals, along with the entire crew, are safe, the minister said in a post on X.

Source: Daily Jagran, reporting Minister Sonowal's X post

"On Nov 11, Saudi Arabia-flagged oil tanker NCC FAJR, carrying 3 Indian seafarers, was involved in a possible attack while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. All 3 Indian nationals, along with the entire crew are safe. We are continuously monitoring the situation and remain in regular contact with the ship management company to ensure the ongoing security and wellbeing of our seafarers," Sonowal said.

Britain's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre had reported an incident involving a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on the morning of November 11, but its first report carried very little information: the vessel's identity, the crew's status, the extent of any damage and any environmental impact were all unknown at the time. The UK-based maritime security firm Vanguard Tech identified the vessel as the Saudi-flagged tanker NCC Fajr, Riviera Maritime Media reported.

Source: Riviera Maritime Media

Shipping publication TradeWinds, citing the same reports, said the 81,300-deadweight-tonne product tanker NCC Fajr, built in 2013 and linked to Saudi owner Bahri's National Chemical Carriers, may have been hit in the strait on November 11. Neither UKMTO nor the ship's managers have publicly confirmed that the vessel was struck, and no party has claimed responsibility for the reported incident.

Iran's separate mine claim — not independently verified

Separately on Wednesday, Iran's army navy said, in a statement carried by Iranian state television, that a tanker had caught fire early that morning after striking a naval mine in an area east of the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran calls unsafe and prohibited. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy had said on Tuesday that oil tankers had struck naval mines and caught fire while using what it calls unauthorised routes through the strait. Those Iranian claims — including the number of vessels involved — have not been independently verified, and Iranian statements did not name the NCC Fajr.

Second tanker incident in two days

The Fajr incident came a day after another tanker carrying Indian crew was hit. On November 10, the Liberia-flagged very large crude carrier MT Fujairah Energy, sailing from Al Ruwais to Dubai with six Indian seafarers among its crew, was hit by a projectile while transiting the Persian Gulf, Sonowal said. Four crew members were injured, including one Indian national who suffered minor injuries and was taken ashore for further medical examination; the remaining 18 crew members, including the other five Indians, were safe and accounted for.

Source: Safety4Sea, reporting Minister Sonowal's update

No party has claimed the Fujairah Energy attack either, and officials have not said whether the separate November 10 reports — an ADNOC Logistics and Services vessel damaged in UAE territorial waters and a UKMTO report of a tanker struck by an unidentified projectile northeast of Lima, Oman — describe the same ship or different ones.

Why Hormuz matters for India and the Gulf's workers

The Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, is the world's most important oil chokepoint: roughly 20 per cent of global petroleum passes through it, and it is a key corridor for India's crude imports. Lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers and seafarers are employed across the Gulf and on the ships that transit it, which is why New Delhi publicly tracks the safety of Indian crew after every incident.

Attacks on shipping in and around the strait have intensified through the Middle East war that began in late February. Data cited by Reuters from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy recorded 37 vessel attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waters in October, the highest monthly total since the war began, and reporting on Wednesday said there was little sign the pace had eased in November.

What happens next: UKMTO has advised vessels to transit the strait with caution while authorities investigate the November 11 incident. India's shipping ministry says it remains in regular contact with the ship management company. Any confirmed damage assessment for the NCC Fajr, or an official account of what struck it, had not been published by Wednesday afternoon Toronto time.