New Delhi: Fourteen Indian nationals aboard a yacht reportedly attacked off Yemen have been reported safe, although the circumstances of the incident remain unclear. The Indian embassy in Yemen has been seeking details and contacting different parties, while allegations by the Houthis that Saudi forces targeted the vessel remain independently unverified.
The incident was reported near Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea on Thursday amid escalating hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, alleged that Saudi forces had attacked the yacht and said his forces were undertaking rescue operations.
In its initial statement on X, the Indian embassy said: “We have seen reports regarding an incident involving 14 Indian nationals on board a yacht off the coast of Yemen today.” It added that it was gathering further information and would provide all possible assistance to ensure the Indians’ safety and well-being.
The embassy subsequently said it had approached different parties to establish the circumstances of the incident. “Given the prevailing conflict situation exact information is not currently available,” it said in its follow-up post on X, adding that it would provide an update once authentic information became available.
Reports that the Indians had been rescued emerged from Houthi accounts, but the embassy’s statements did not independently confirm their rescue or subsequent whereabouts. Its response remained focused on establishing the facts and assisting the nationals, without endorsing the allegation against Saudi Arabia.
Several details remained unresolved, including the extent of damage to the yacht and the precise sequence of events surrounding the reported attack. Saudi authorities had not commented on the allegation in the initial reporting, and no independently verified account established responsibility.
The incident followed attacks on Saudi infrastructure a day earlier that killed an Indian national and injured three others, as RNA Media had reported. According to the Indian embassy in Riyadh, one Indian was among two people killed at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday, while two other Indians were injured there and another was injured in a separate attack on Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field.
In its response to those strikes, the ministry of external affairs condemned attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure and expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia. New Delhi called for attacks on civilian and critical facilities to cease immediately and expressed hope for an early restoration of peace and normalcy.
The reported yacht attack also highlights the risks facing civilian vessels along a strategically important maritime corridor. The southern Red Sea connects with the Indian Ocean through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and with the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, making security along this route important for international trade and energy shipments.
In a separate incident, the Kuwait-flagged tanker MT Al Dasma was struck by an unidentified projectile while passing through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. The shipping minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said all 21 Indian seafarers aboard were safe, underscoring the exposure of Indian crews to maritime incidents across the region.