13 Indians among 16 crew members missing after oil tanker sinks off Oman coast

An oil tanker carrying 16 crew members, including 13 Indians, has capsized off the coast of Oman, the country’s maritime security centre said on Tuesday.

The crew members are missing and search and rescue operations are on to find them. The crew of ‘Prestige Falcon’, a Comoros-flagged oil tanker, had 13 Indians and three Sri Lankans onboard, the centre tweeted on Thursday. The vessel capsized 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah near the Omani port of Duqm on Monday.

The tanker was heading to the Yemeni port of Aden, according to shipping data by LSEG.

Oman’s maritime security centre told news agency Reuters that the oil tanker remained “submerged and inverted”. It, however, did not confirm whether the vessel had stabilised or whether oil or oil products were leaking into the sea.

The vessel is a 117-metre-long oil products tanker built in 2007, LSEG’s shipping data showed. Such small tankers are generally deployed for short voyages.

Duqm Port is situated on Oman’s southwest coast, a major hub of the country’s major oil and gas mining projects. A major oil refinery forms a part of Duqm’s vast industrial zone, the kingdom’s biggest single economic project.