Republican Congressman Rob Wittman on Thursday called the US killing of three Indian sailors off the coast of Oman “a very tragic event”, claiming that US Army it is trying to “determine what exactly happened”.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those Indian families who lost loved ones there in that situation,” Wittman told the South China Morning Post.
“I know that our United States the military is looking into that to try to figure out exactly what happened there, but again, a tragic event, that we really want to try to avoid.
A US military missile attack on the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday tore open the engine room and started a fire. Of the 28 crew on the plane, 24 were Indian citizens, 21 were saved, while three lost their lives.
US Central Command blamed the ship for violating “continuing sanctions by attempting to transport oil from Iran” and posted a video of the attack on social media.
Two other commercial ships, M/T Jalveer and M/T Marivex, carrying Indian crews, were attacked by US naval forces in the past three days, and all on board were later rescued. Two of the three ships originally attacked were commissioned by US Treasury Department.
