Three Indian seafarers, who were initially reported missing, were confirmed dead in one of the attacks by the US. (Credits: X/@FSUIINDIA)India on Friday summoned the US Charge’s d’affaires (CDA) for the second time in less than 48 hours, as fears for the safety of Indian seafarers on board ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz heightened Thursday when the US military attacked MT Jalveer, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker, near the Oman coast, the third such incident in the area in four days. All 22 Indian seafarers on board were safely evacuated after the missile strike.The summoning of the US CDA Jason Meeks took place on Friday afternoon, where MEA’s Additional Secretary (Americas division), Nagaraj Naidu called him in, to convey India’s concerns about the safety and security of Indians on ships stranded on the Strait of Hormuz.Also Read | Third ship hit by US near Oman, all 22 Indians safeThis was after the June 10 summoning, when for the first time in its dealings with the Trump administration, India had on Wednesday summoned a top US diplomat in New Delhi following an attack earlier in the day by American forces on a commercial ship off the coast of Oman. Of the 24 Indian seafarers on the ship Settebello, 21 were rescued while three were killed.The attack on MT Jalveer took place on the day Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, confirmed the death of three Indian seafarers, reported missing a day earlier from MT Settebello after it was attacked – of the 24 Indians on board, 21 had been rescued.The Indian Embassy in Muscat said the evacuation of the MT Jalveer crew to Shinas port was coordinated with assistance from the Royal Navy of Oman and all 22 Indians on board had been safely brought to shore.Also Read | ‘He finally landed a good job’: UP family loses breadwinner in US attackClaiming that MT Jalveer “attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman”, the US Central Command had said, “A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from US forces.”It said the tanker was “disabled” in the Gulf of Oman “after the vessel violated the blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil, marking the third commercial ship disabled by American forces this week”.Story continues below this ad“Earlier this week, US aircraft disabled Palau-flagged vessels MT Marivex and MT Settebello on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Marivex violated the blockade by attempting to sail to an Iranian port and Settebello attempted to transport Iranian oil,” the CENTCOM had said.It is learnt that MT Jalveer had already been fired at by an American aircraft last month. On May 15, it received warning shots approximately 30 nautical miles off the Oman coast and was directed to turn back toward the Gulf of Oman.The attacks on commercial vessels, the resumption of military strikes by US and Iran and the issue of maritime security frame both diplomatic and economic challenges for G7 leaders meeting next week at Evian-les-Bains in eastern France – Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump will be among world leaders at the meeting.Modi is undertaking an official visit to France – June 13-14 (Nice), June 16-18 (Evian and Paris) – and Slovakia from June 14-16.Story continues below this adLate Wednesday night, the Ministry of External Affairs had summoned the US charge d’affaires in New Delhi and lodged a protest after the attack on MT Settebello.“We had summoned the US CDA (Jason Meeks) to register a protest on the attack that happened on this commercial vessel off the coast of Oman. Three Indian nationals have died in that incident,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said on Thursday.“We have conveyed our deepest concerns on these incidents and the string of attacks happening. And we hope and expect that these would end, these would come to an immediate halt,” he said, underlining “our deep concerns regarding targeting of commercial ships, of marine personnel, as also civilian infrastructure”.Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More Tags:Indian Ministry of External AffairsUS envoy