United Nations, Sep 25 : India and Liberia have brought together a group of countries to address attacks on commercial ships and protect their crews, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday.
EAM Jaishankar said that, two days ago, an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier, MV Cape Dove, was attacked in the Gulf of Oman, killing an Indian sailor. Ten days before that, a Panama-flagged oil tanker, El Gaya, was struck in the Strait of Hormuz. An Indian crew member went missing.
"These, regrettably, are no longer exceptional occurrences," he said while addressing the gathering. at the inaugural meeting of 'Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers'.
He also cited two attacks in the Black Sea. The chief officer of the MV Omorfi, an Indian national, was killed when the vessel was hit in Russian territorial waters on 18 July, he said. The next day, four Indian seafarers died after the MV Golden Leo was struck following its departure from Odessa.
The victims were not only Indian, EAM Jaishankar said. Sailors from other countries had also been casualties of attacks this year.
"From the Black Sea to the Red Sea to the Gulf, attacks on civilian shipping have become a growing cause of concern," he said. "These actions that disrupt maritime commerce and cost innocent lives are simply indefensible."
He urged countries to work together to deter attacks. Commercial shipping and mariners had faced repeated attacks in the Gulf, the Red Sea and nearby waters in recent months, he said.
The stakes extend beyond any one shipping route. International trade exceeds $140 billion a day, EAM Jaishankar said, and oceans support more than 80 per cent of it. Nearly two million seafarers serve aboard the world's merchant fleets.
Crews face other hardships as well, including prolonged confinement aboard ships, delays in changing crews or returning home, separation from families and psychological distress. EAM Jaishankar said existing international and regional protections required stronger cooperation.
A vessel's flag and its crew members' nationalities are often different, making a response by governments acting together especially important, he said. India is a major source of seafarers, while Liberia has the world's largest shipping registry.
India and Liberia proposed the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers as a forum for countries involved in shipping, registration and crewing.
EAM Jaishankar said its members included major ship-owning nations, countries with large ship registries and those supplying many of the world's seafarers.
He asked members to help shape the group's work and said its procedures and terms of reference could be settled through their discussions. He thanked the countries that had joined and said he wanted to hear their views.
The proposal follows a concern India raised at the BRICS summit it hosted two weeks earlier.
EAM Jaishankar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed a seafarers' emergency support network linking maritime authorities and embassies. It could help send distress alerts, arrange medical assistance, keep families informed and support evacuations when needed.
India has also raised maritime safety at the United Nations.
EAM Jaishankar said it co-organised a Security Council meeting with Greece and the Philippines in November last year on protecting seafarers, and took part in an April 2026 debate on the safety of waterways. The new group brings those concerns into a forum focused on shipping and the people who work aboard it.
