NEW DELHI: The body of an Indian sailor who went missing after his ship was attacked off the coast of Oman has been recovered, a seafarers’ union official said on Wednesday.
Heramb Karmarkar, a 30-year-old marine engineer from the western Indian city of Pune, had been missing since Sunday following the attack on the Cypriot-flagged cargo vessel GFS Galaxy.
“I got a call Tuesday evening from the company the ship belonged to, informing me that Heramb Karmarkar’s body has been found by the Omani coast guard,” Manoj Yadav of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India told AFP.
“This was almost 60 hours after we first received news that he was missing,” he added.
The vessel’s remaining 23 crew members, including 10 Indian nationals, were rescued on Sunday.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the ship had been disabled after a fire severely damaged its engine room and accused Iran of carrying out the attack. Tehran has not commented on the allegation.
India, one of the world’s largest suppliers of merchant sailors, had more than 320,000 active seafarers in 2025, according to official figures.
On Tuesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs described the attacks on commercial shipping in the region as “deeply worrisome.”
“The targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must end,” the ministry said in a statement.
The attack came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States after Tehran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and launched missile and drone attacks against several Gulf countries following US strikes on Iranian territory.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world’s most strategically important maritime routes, carrying about one-fifth of global oil shipments before the conflict erupted in late February.
