New York, Oct 8 (IANS) The Permanent missions to the United Nations from India and Liberia ‘strongly’ condemned the attacks on shipping and seafarers, a joint statement said on Thursday.
“India and Liberia, as co-chairs of the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers (GoF on S4), strongly condemn the string of unacceptable attacks that commercial ships and seafarers have been subjected to in the Gulf and its vicinity, the Black Sea, over the past few days. These actions that disrupt maritime trade and cost innocent lives are simply indefensible. We call for an immediate cessation of such attacks in the interest of peace and stability in the region,” the joint statement added.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the seafarers who have lost their lives and pray for early recovery of those injured,” it said.
India and Liberia launched the GoF on S4 on September 25, 2026, and stand ready to support more coordination to discourage recurrence of such attacks and to safeguard the rights of seafarers.
India on Wednesday condemned attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Black Sea region and reiterated its call for dialogue and diplomacy to de-escalate tensions and enable an early return of peace in the region.
Addressing a bi-weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that attacks targeting commercial vessels threaten commercial shipping and endanger the lives of the seafaring community.
“We have seen a string of attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Black Sea region in the last one or two days. We condemn such attacks that threaten commercial shipping and endanger lives of our seafaring community. First, the commercial vessel MV Royad Mammadov came under attack while it was flying in the Black Sea. There were three Indian nationals onboard. All of them are safe, but one of them got injured, and he is receiving treatment. We thank the Romanian authorities who lent us a helping hand and have been very helpful in this particular incident,” Jaiswal added.
–IANS
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